A New Day
by xxaemiliusxx
Summary: Sequel to "A New Life." Finally back in his old body, Turbo is eager to race and start a new life for himself and his twins. But the rest of Sugar Rush, and the rest of the arcade, are less than thrilled to have him back. As the Turbo Time racers attempt to navigate a new life in a hostile arcade, Turbo soon discovers that his glitch is even harder to control than he thought.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Notes: Welcome to the sequel to _A New Life_! I won't say much except that I wanted to get this up before the blu-ray release tomorrow. This fic is a bit more disjointed than part one, but I hope my readers will still enjoy it! I'm also going to start posting some backstory either here or on Tumblr over the next couple weeks; either way, I'll make sure to give a heads up in the Author's Notes. Thanks yet again to Lava for editing. Enjoy Chapter One. :)_

* * *

A New Day

Chapter One – Palace Prisoner

Turbo sat on the floor by the open window, gazing out over what he could see of the Sugar Rush landscape, the curling track that led away from the palace toward the grandstands where the roster race would soon begin. He leaned forward, his hands on his ankles. It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago, he'd been announcing those races and greeting his adoring fans with flourishes and laughter. Now he was a prisoner in his own-no, not his own, the glitch, scratch that, Vanellope's-palace.

He sighed. No, not quite a prisoner even. Just a semi-unwanted guest, 'permitted' to remain in a game he couldn't leave under the supervision of the royal guard.

Turbo leaned down, putting his chin in his palm with another sigh. It had been two weeks since he had run the roster race that brought him back to his old body. Fourteen days since he had been a cybug, three hundred...thirty-six hours since Rex had showed up with the rest of the arcade to raise hell in Sugar Rush. And Turbo, angry as he was about...everything, had spent the better part of the time alone, locked in the twins' room in the palace while the races were on. Although the twins were allowed to be with him any time they pleased, Vanellope had begun requesting they come down to the track during arcade hours to support the racers. In her mind, it would improve opinions of them. Skeptical as they were, they agreed to it, meaning that Turbo spent arcade hours brooding and stirring up trouble in the palace.

Breathing out sharply, he stood and stretched himself out, tipping his head to the side to crack his neck. With nothing better to do, he had spent the better part of his free time concentrating on controlling his glitch. Frustrating as it was at first, he soon realized how to trigger the glitch and how to remain in one form or the other for any given portion of time. He still glitched involuntarily from time to time, but he at least had some control, enough to do it on command. At first, the glitching had come strangely to him. No longer was it a mere face swap, it was now a full personality overhaul. The first few times he had managed to glitch over to King Candy, he'd been so startled by the change that he'd lost his train of thought and, being back in King Candy's form, had begun throwing a tantrum at having been locked up in a parlor room in the palace. After a few instances of this, he managed to keep hold of his train of thought while he switched from one persona to the other, and could now almost seamlessly swap from one avatar to the other without losing track of what he was doing.

Turbo grinned to himself, holding out a hand in front of him, his fingers outstretched. He focused intently on it, visualizing and concentrating on the static-y feeling of the glitch rippling through his code. In a moment, the grey pixels separated into the air and reconvened with a red glimmer as the fleshy color of the king's hand, the white cuff, the violet sleeve. Turbo glanced down at himself, pleased. It was as easy as anything else now.

There was a knock at the door and he turned to look over his shoulder, brushing off his clothes with a flick of his wrists. "Yes, Werther, be a dear and let him in!"

* * *

Vanellope strode down the hall with the longest strides she could manage. She was smiling to herself, feeling surprisingly pleased considering the way things had been going lately. After two weeks of trying with all her might to get the Sugar Rush racers and candy citizens to at least _consider_ having anything to do with Turbo and the twins, she had finally gotten two racers to join her side. She grinned to herself, finally feeling at least somewhat rewarded for her efforts. The rest of the arcade might still be breathing down her neck, but...well, headway was headway.

It was strange. The more she dealt with people who hated the old racer, the harder she found it to hate him herself. The arcade didn't seem to know quite what to do with Turbo. Between the fear, anger, and genuine rallies for justice, everyone seemed to be vying for the right to decide what to do with him themselves. But for two weeks now, Vanellope had stood firm. Turbo was a part of her game now, she insisted, coded within Sugar Rush's code. That made him her responsibility, and put his fate in her hands. In spite of anyone else's argument otherwise, she held fast to that. And as the arcade was unhappily learning, she was as stubborn and hardheaded as Turbo had ever been.

"Good afternoon, Miss Vanellope," Werther said with a warm smile as as she stepped up to the door.

Vanellope grinned at him, tipping her head in a greeting. "And how's our esteemed jerkface doing today, Werther?"

Werther glanced toward the door at the sound of a laugh from within. King Candy's laugh, familiar enough, though not particularly well-remembered in these palace halls. "Seems to be in a good mood, Miss Vanellope."

"Well, we'll see how long that lasts once I go in," she said, smirking. Werther moved to open the door but she waved his hand away casually and took the handle in her own hand, pushing it open. Turbo glanced up with a smile on King Candy's face, though it turned to a bit of a sneer at sight of Vanellope. "Afternoon, boys," she said, stepping into the room and pushing the door shut behind her. Sour Bill looked up dully from where the two of them were seated by the window. She wasn't near as good at reading him as Turbo was, but it seemed that he was enjoying himself.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit, my little glitch?" Turbo asked coolly.

Vanellope tilted her head, raising her brows. "You need a new nickname for me, Turbs, that one's not really working for you any more. Particularly because of your own glitching and all."

His smirk shifted into a frown with a twitch at her use of the name 'Turbs'. "Think you're so cute, don't you?" King Candy's face frowned, raising its brows at her. "Wouldn't be so cute if I had run you off the road when I had the chance."

"Well you can have another chance now," she replied, clearly not very intimidated by the threat, "if you wanna risk getting yourself thrown in the fungeon. I just came in to ask if you wanted to join us on the track. The twins are waiting for you."

A glitch shivered through King Candy, and Turbo's avatar flickered into place, sitting on the floor, looking up eagerly. "Really?" His expression grew suspicious. "What's the catch?"

"No catch." Vanellope smiled, shifting her weight and looking quite proud of herself. "I actually convinced a couple of the Sugar Rush racers to race with you so long as you don't try to crash them into the walls."

Turbo hesitated. "What about the rest of the arcade?"

Vanellope smirked down at him. "Sent word to Surge not to let anybody into this terminal today unless they got special permission from me."

Turbo stared at her for a moment, then he jumped up rather excitedly. "Who's racing?! I'll beat them without even trying!"

Vanellope glanced to the green candy on the floor. "Sour Bill?"

Sour Bill shook his head slowly. "I'll stay here, if it's all the same to you, Miss President."

She nodded, glancing at Turbo as he rushed by her, tugging open the door. She waved a little. "See you later then!"

* * *

Turbo collapsed onto his back on the bed, grinning with triumph. Ted kicked the red-and-white helmet Turbo had dropped aside with a faint scowl. "You don't have to be such a jerk about it."

Turbo stretched his hands out toward the ceiling. "I beat them," he said a bit wistfully, his yellow teeth showing in his grin. "I beat all of them. I even beat that little glitch in her own race." He bunched up his shoulders, opening his eyes to grin at the two of them as they stood over him at the foot of the bed. "...I finally beat her."

The twins crossed their arms, looking down at him with raised brows. "We noticed."

He grinned still, pulling his hands down to his chest, but his grin slowly faded as the two of them continued to stare at him intently. "...what?"

The twins glanced at one another from the corner of their eyes before they abruptly lunged down at him, diving into an attack of tickles on the white-suited racer. Turbo yelped out a laugh, trying in vain to squirm away from them but they were determined. "Get off!" he cried, pushing at them uselessly.

Eventually the three of them dissolved in laughs and collapsed onto the bed side-by-side. But just as Turbo was catching his breath, the apparent siren song of his scruff of hair attracted the attention of the twins and they began to ruff it up with their hands. Turbo swatted at the both of them, then wrapped his arms around his head and curled up into a ball with a laugh.

When the trio finally settled, Turbo shifted on his side with Ned at his back and Ted at his front, the three of them huddled close together and still grinning with warm red faces. As he breathed out the last shaky breath of a laugh, Turbo couldn't imagine things getting much better than this. Racing with the twins, beating the glitch! Finally having a place to call home again, where he could show his real face, and be his true self. So the arcade may hate him...they'd get over it in time...

* * *

It was the middle of the night when Ned noticed the faint tickle of static run through his body. He opened his eyes just as a red flicker lit up the room. Gasping, he immediately tugged away from Turbo as the racer's body alighted in glitching pixels. On Turbo's other side, Ted too was suddenly awakened with a yelp as a great red flash coursed through Turbo and rippled through them as well. Both scrambling back from him on either side, they could do nothing but watch as Turbo's avatar alighted with separating pixels. There was a bright flash, and a crash, as the bed collapsed under the weight of a very startled and very confused cybug.

Turbo blinked rapidly, pulling his clawed hands to his face. "W-wha...? How?!"

Ted and Ned both stared at him from opposite sides of the room, where they stood, shaking. "You're...King Turbug again..."

"So I've noticed!" Turbo snapped, scrambling off the broken bed in a near panic. The adjustment to the cybug body was near instantaneous, yet again. Already the insectile limbs and the restless movement of his hands and neck seemed natural and instinctive. A strain of wild, worried thought ran through his head.

It only took a few moments of Turbo's noisy scrambling around the room for the guard, the timid Goodbar, to open the door and lean inside, blinking in rapid astonishment before he slammed it again and began yelling for Vanellope.

* * *

Vanellope stepped into the room as the door was thrown open for her, clearly unhappy at having been woken in the middle of the night. "What is it?!" she cried at no one in particular. Then she stopped, staring at the sight of the once again cybug king, sitting in the middle of the room with Ned on his back and Ted leaning on his side. His head was low as he stared at her with a cold glare. Vanellope blinked, staring back. "Well, I did not expect that."

"Neither did we," Ted muttered uncertainly, glancing up at the bug.

Turbo sat there, looking bitter and forlorn, shifting his weight slightly as Ned clung to him from behind. His pixels were still shifting and rippling slightly at the ends of his feet and tails. Vanellope looked him over curiously. "You glitched to this?"

"Yes," he grumbled.

"The cybug code," she mused, "I thought we got rid of that."

"Apparently not," he grumbled. Ned clung tighter to his neck.

"Well can you glitch back?" Vanellope asked.

"Don't you think I tried that?!" he snapped.

Vanellope rolled her eyes, though she knew this was a bit more serious than she'd like to think. Any progress she had made convincing people that Turbo wasn't a threat would fall to pieces if he was a cybug again. The last thing she needed was a bunch of soldiers bursting in from Hero's Duty, arguing for the right to take care of Turbo themselves in light of the cybug coding.

"Alright," she said with a sigh. "First things first...We'd better take a look at your code."


	2. Chapter 2 - Mood Swings

_ Author Notes: I actually don't have a whole lot to say here. There's a lot going on, I'm sort of getting back into the swing of things with this fic. There's more relationships involved in part two-although the focus will stay on Turbo and the twins, there's going to be a lot of other interactions to take a look at. I owe thanks to Lava, yet again, for helping edit this and for also providing a lot of inspiration for one of the scenes that follows. I'm astonished at how many people are already following this story! I hope I won't let you down. Please enjoy. :)_

* * *

Chapter Two – Mood Swings

Turbo stood in the doorway of the vault, leaning forward and craning his neck as Vanellope turned to look back at him. She was floating at the end of the tether in front of the face of King Candy's code, her brows low over her large brown eyes. "Okay, this thing is huge," she called, looking back at him with a glare. "I can't move it any closer! You've either gotta come in here, or figure out some way to see it from where you're at!"

Turbo grimaced, poking a foot into the anti-gravity uncomfortably. It had always been easy to navigate the space as King Candy, but the weightless sensation was a bit unnerving in this big and spindly body. He crept out and hovered into the empty space, his wings flickering to life with a buzz. Once he'd acclimated himself to the vault, he clawed his way toward her to get a better look at the code. Vanellope moved back with ease, watching as he got his bearings and righted himself in front of the code box. Taking a breath, he clicked into the box and gave his code an intent look. The contents made little sense to her.

"The cybug coding is all still there!" he hissed, red glitching rippling along his back. "Why didn't it erase when the code reset? -wait a minute, it's not all here...just bits and pieces, what is this?"

Vanellope watched curiously, wondering how he had ever learned to make sense of all this. His eyes scanned the code as he reached out, collecting a few pieces of code and drawing them near to his space. The pieces of broken code glimmered and glitched slightly, sending a chain reaction through his body as he touched them. "It's...fused to me."

Vanellope watched as the last of the glitch fizzled out through his tail, then looked back to his face. "What's that mean?"

He frowned. He checked the old connections between his ghost code and King Candy's unfinished one. They were nearly indistinguishable now, which was just as well. But now the cybug coding (what was left of it) had fit itself in amidst both of them. All three now seemed to be one tangled mess of coding. But the cybug code was not complete. It couldn't be. King Candy and Turbo were two complete personas, two fully functioning avatars, the cybug code thus far was only an image, a change in his appearance. He had yet to notice the cybug instincts kick in, although, he supposed in some ways the ability to adjust to the new body was part of the the instinct code, but...

"I have to run the roster again," he said sharply, turning for the exit. Vanellope looked after him, blinking. The cybug floated awkwardly to the door of the vault and clambered out, tugging off his tether.

* * *

Vanellope hurried after the cybug as he pushed through the curtain back into the throne room. The twins looked up anxiously from where they stood near the throne, waiting. "Hey, Turbo!" she shouted after him, "You do know you can't run the roster any time soon, right?"

Turbo snorted, glancing back at her. "I can and I will."

Vanellope raised her brows at him, almost laughing. "Okay, no," she said, spreading her hands. "The Sugar Rush racers aren't exactly going to be happy to see you as a cybug agai-"

Turbo raised his voice suddenly, the glitch tearing through his words: "Tell those brats I've got to do it!"

The twins blinked. Ted stepped toward the two of them, raising his hands defensively. "Hey, guys..."

Vanellope breathed out sharply. "You can't tell me what to do, Turbug! This isn't your game!"

Turbo's eyes flickered yellow as he stared at her wide-eyed, his face hot. "It should be, glitch!" There was a tight silence before he suddenly lunged forward at her, sweeping a clawed hand at the child.

Vanellope was quick to react and glitched away from him, out of reach, staring at the cybug, not exactly afraid, but terribly startled by his reaction. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"What I meant to do the first time I got trapped in this goddamn body!" He scrambled after her, swinging at her with his claws as she continued to glitch away from him. The twins rushed forward to stop him, but he ignored them entirely, his wings buzzing to life as he began to lift himself up from the floor.

"Turbo, stop!" Ted shouted, just managing to grab hold of one of his hind legs as the cybug started taking off. Turbo dropped back to his feet stiffly, reeling on Ted with a growl. He was about to strike the racer when he spotted Ned preparing to jump onto his back from the other side. Without missing a beat, he twisted himself around, whipping the racer with his tails and sending him sprawling. Ted's stomach knotted, but he tore his eyes from his brother, scrambling to Turbo's side and reaching for his wing. Immediately, Turbo twisted back around and Ted yelped as the cybug got hold of his shoulder in his claws. Panicked, he leaped as far as he could onto the cybug's back, grabbing hold of the notch of armor at the bug's wing. Turbo perked as he was touched, shuddering with a quick glitch that momentarily revealed his own, grey startled face. "T-ted-!" he yelped as his limbs suddenly collapsed under him, sending the cybug and the racer to the floor with a loud _whumph_.

Ted let out a breath, collapsing against the cybug's side, his hand still rubbing at the spot under Turbo's armor. Turbo meanwhile scraped very weakly at the floor with his claws, obviously distraught although he was significantly subdued. He huffed out breaths wearily, his chin on the floor, his face warm and flushed. Vanellope had frozen a few feet away from them, her eyes wide and confused. She looked slowly from Turbo to Ted, blinking. "W-what just happened?"

Ted breathed out shakily, looking over at Vanellope. Then suddenly giving a start, he pushed himself up to look past the cybug at his brother. "Ned, are you okay?!"

Ned was just pushing himself up from the floor, wincing a little, but he gave Ted a nod as he wrapped one arm around his stomach, flinching. Ted let out a shaky sigh of relief, his whole expression softening. He looked toward Vanellope wearily.

She was still staring, keeping her distance. "W-what did you do to him?"

Ted sighed, his heart still pounding. He leaned on Turbo gently. "I'll explain once we get him to sleep, huh...?"

Vanellope nodded uncertainty, watching as Ned pushed himself to his feet and approached the other two. He lingered a moment by Turbo's head, then moved to his side, dropping down to his knees and reaching up to touch his brother's hand. Ted gave Turbo's wing a few last rubs before he stumbled to his feet, letting his brother take over as he moved round to Turbo's head and knelt down carefully. Turbo looked up at him helplessly as Ted lay a hand on his forehead. "Sorry, big guy..."

Turbo whined softly, still breathing a bit heavily, his heart and his head still trying to catch up with the rest of his body. The sudden shift in his mood, his adrenaline being chopped off at its peak, had left him shaken and rather uncertain, but he was slowly giving over to the relaxation impulse stirred by Ned's touch. Ted brushed his hand on Turbo's forehead gently. The glitch rippled through him and Turbo closed his eyes, shivering a little. Ned leaned over and hugged him around his side.

Ted continued to brush Turbo's forehead as the cybug continued to relax, finally falling silent, his breath calm and even. After a while, he opened his eyes sleepily, glancing up at Ted again, his face still warm and red. "Don't tell her...about the...about this..." He glanced toward Ned with his eyes and back at Ted rather pleadingly.

"We gotta tell her, Turbo," Ted murmured. "She'd figure it out on her own even if we don't." Turbo closed his eyes again, seeming to whimper a little. Ted smiled softly as the other racer tipped his head and pushed it against his knee gently. "Just go to sleep, bud, you'll be fine..."

It wasn't long before Turbo drifted off, his head just against Ted's lap, Ned leaning across his back.

* * *

Turbo lay, once again on the _floor_, in the room he'd been sharing with the twins. The busted bed was much too small for him anyway. He was bitter and angry and frustrated and embarrassed, but Ned had given him quite a massage before he and Ted went back out with the glitch, so he found that in spite of all this, he felt relatively calm. At least, he wasn't raging about destroying things, which is what he suspected he'd be doing if not for Ned's touch.

He sighed raggedly. Everything had been going so well. He'd finally been making headway. And now he was back where he had started. Or at least very close. He lifted his claws to his face and pressed his hard armored palms against his eyes.

And the glitch knew about his...'sweet spot.' Good gamers, what a nightmare...

A part of him felt perhaps he ought to be more concerned with his...'outburst,' but he wasn't. Barely conscious as he was carried by a station of the glitch's guards back to his room, he'd heard quite a lot of talk about cybug coding and 'kill instincts,' but he knew better. All that anger and vengeance he directed at...Vanellope had been his own. _His, _Turbo's. Maybe the cybug code made those emotions bubble closer to the surface, but it wasn't any cybug coding that made him go after Vanellope, or even knock Ned away from him...It was good, old-fashioned Turbo rage. The same kind of rage that had driven him to...well.

It was _his _rage, in any case. Whether that was better or worse than cybug rage, he wasn't sure. It was hard to place what exactly had been going on in his head when the cybug coding had got the better of him on Diet Cola Mountain.

There was a knock at the door and he tipped his head forward, dropping his forehead against the floor. "Whoever the hell is out there better go away," he said without much enthusiasm.

A small, equally unenthused voice replied, "It's me, sir."

"Sour Bill?" Turbo lifted his head and glanced toward the door. "Ah...come in."

The guard opened the door and Sour Bill shuffled in slowly, looking at Turbo with a faint tinge of anxiety. Turbo eyed him with mild suspicion as the candy's expression faded back into his normal melancholy state. "Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't have you bound again..."

Turbo snorted. "Is that all you've got to say to me?" he asked bitterly, turning away. "My, you don't get much respect once you abdicate the throne, do you?" He grimaced faintly, his face glitching a little as he beat down the frustration of not being able to glitch entirely over to King Candy as he had done for Sour Bill these past few days. He glanced at the candy from the corner of his eye and frowned toothily. "Get over here, come on."

Sour Bill quickened his clattering steps and moved closer to the cybug. Once he was within arm's reach, Turbo reached out and clasped him in one hand, pulling him in close and wrapping both arms around him. Sour Bill glanced up at him, distraught. "Sir?"

"Damn those twins, going out there without me like any other day," he muttered, his tail swishing. "Just leaving me here, locked up like a criminal-"

"You are a criminal, sir."

"-with nothing to do all day but stare out this damn window. I'm sick of this!" He raised his shoulders, then relaxed them again slowly, huffing out a breath between his fangs. In spite of his mounting frustration, he found he was still feeling the affects of the pressure point, and he didn't seem to able to get near as worked up as normally. Still, the intense feeling of restlessness that seemed to always plague him in this body was wreaking havoc in his head. Turbo closed his eyes tightly, resting his chin atop his old assistant, focusing as best he could on the glitch in his own body.

Sour Bill glanced up at him awkwardly, shifting his arms and legs a little in the cybug's grasp. "Sir?"

"Thowah Bill," he said slowly, King Candy's words quavering as though spoken with great effort, "if I can just learn to control this little glitch problem I-" Turbo shuddered with a glitch and opened his eyes, blinking yellow before they returned to King Candy's brown. "I can't do it," he growled, his voice back to its usual state. "I can't glitch out of this form! It takes all the energy I've got just to get part of it!"

Sour Bill sighed a little and gazed down at the floor again. He blinked when he felt Turbo shift his chin and brush his face against him lightly. "S-sir?" he stammered.

Turbo clicked his tongue a few times on the inside of his fangs, grimacing. Then he dropped his chin back to Sour Bill's head. "Just how sour are you, Sour Bill?"

Sour Bill blinked ahead of himself, uncertain how he was expected to answer this query. "I...don't know, sir."

Turbo hummed a little, an unfamiliar tune that suited the king's personality more than Turbo's own. "Stay with me," he said, "until the twins come back, alright?"

Sour Bill hesitated. He was supposed to meet with some of the servants to discuss Turbo's presence in the palace. But Vanellope hadn't exactly ordered him to attend, it was merely expected of him...

"Of course, sir," he droned, "if you insist."

"I do."

* * *

When the twins returned that afternoon, they found King Turbug fast asleep on his side, with Sour Bill half in his mouth, struggling a bit to get free. He looked at them with wider-than-usual eyes, bidding them for help as soon as they entered. With a little effort, they managed to pry the sour ball out from between Turbo's fangs, though he was still quite sticky and damp.

"Sorry," Ted murmured, setting the little sour ball down on the floor. He waved his arms a bit and looked up at them forlornly.

"Thank you," he droned, glancing at Turbo, who seemed to be waking up with a wide toothy yawn. Having fulfilled his duty, Sour Bill shuffled for the door and left. The twins looked back at Turbo.

"Looks like you had an exciting day," Ted commented.

Turbo stretched out his bug legs beside him and his arms above his head, licking his fangs distastefully. "Why is my mouth so sour...?"

"You were chewing on Sour Bill," Ned said, hunkering down in front of him.

Turbo blinked at him, his tongue between his fangs. He sucked it in quietly, grimacing. Ned was gazing at him sincerely, his large eyes curious and quite a bit worried. Turbo swallowed and glanced away, awkward. "Are you...alright, Ned?"

Ned nodded quietly, leaning forward. "You didn't hit me _that_ hard...Are you okay?"

Turbo grimaced faintly. He was miserable and angry and frustrated. But they already knew that much. He glanced up at Ted. "How is your should-?" He perked as he noticed the pie plate held between the other racer's hands. He lifted his neck quickly to get a look at it.

Ted smirked. "Felix sent this at the end of arcade hours..."

Turbo hesitated, looking from the pie to Ted, then he quickly reached out with his claws and snatched it up, settling himself back down on the floor. He leaned down to give the pie a good sniff before picking at it with his claws and lifting a messy 'slice' to his mouth.

Ned dropped from his crouch to a sit, turning to lean up against Turbo's side. Turbo shifted, repositioning his legs to give Ned room. "It's not as fun racing when we know you're stuck in here again," Ned mused. Turbo settled his legs down, one of them resting across Ned's lap. Ned lay his arms on it lightly.

"Yeah," Ted said, touching Turbo's side with the toe of his shoe. "And there's no one screaming at us whenever we cross the finish line." Turbo glanced up at him with his eyes, a clawful of pie stuffed into his mouth. He flicked his tail in annoyance to swat Ted in the back of the knee. The racer stumbled a little and shot him a glance, then lowered himself to sit next to his brother, forcing Turbo to shift his legs around again. "You have any ideas of how to fix this cybug thing?"

"No," Turbo said, licking his claws and gazing down at the pie he'd rather well mutilated by digging into it with his hand. He sighed. "I'm not really sure there is a way to fix it. Running the roster race again should change me back temporarily, but...I'm..."

"You attacked Vanellope," Ned said, glancing at him.

Turbo sighed again lightly, scooping a little more pie out of the plate. "Yeah, and I'm not certain that lapse in self-control bodes well for getting to run the roster any time soon." Turbo grimaced. If he was perfectly honest, he wasn't completely certain what had happened in the throne room earlier. Just like he wasn't entirely certain what had happened the day he left his game, or the day of the race when he went after Vanellope on the track and first glitched to his old form. Except now, he supposed, he was even more dangerous than before. Still, he couldn't actually _kill_ Vanellope, so...He chewed the pie thoughtfully. In spite of the mild shame of eating it, he was deeply grateful for it.

Ted slid down a bit against Turbo's side, glancing at the ceiling. "So...no ideas for a real solution to this problem?"

Turbo grit his teeth lightly. "...none."

Ted stretched his legs out, pursing his lips. "Any possibility it's just another avatar in your code? I mean, you _did_ glitch to it the same way you do King Candy and Turbo."

Turbo considered this, glancing himself over. The lighter pink color that had instilled itself in his arms after eating his bonds in the palace had disappeared since the reset. The cherry rings were there on his fingers, but it was impossible for him to say if they had just reappeared or been there all along. The cybug form did seem to have certain retentive default qualities, though.

Turbo frowned thoughtfully. "But if that's the case, why can't I change back?"

"You're the one who knows code," Ted said, crossing his ankles.

The cybug hummed, licking the pie from his claws and gazing toward the window thoughtfully.

The twins sat with Turbo a little while before Vanellope stopped by the room and asked them to come with her and meet with some of the other racers. She said nothing to Turbo, simply gave him a rather cold, grim look, and then left. Feeling a bit guilty, the twins left Turbo to his own devices again. Sulking and moody, he spent the better part of that afternoon lying by the window with his head on the floor, gazing out at the Sugar Rush landscape that had become his permanent home. It was rather late in the day when a group of anxious-looking candy citizens (servants of the castle) came into the room, trying to ignore the cybug as they removed the broken pieces of the bed and reassembled a significantly larger, better constructed one. Turbo watched them rather suspiciously from the far side of the room, where he lay curled up on one side.

"Do you expect that to support me?" he sneered.

Most of the citizens rather uncomfortably ignored him, but one glanced his way nervously. "W-we're just...doing what the president ordered."

Turbo locked eyes with the little candy, holding his gaze a while before the man suddenly turned away and went back to working. Turbo smirked faintly. Ah, so, he could still instill fear in these people...that was reassuring, at least. He stretched out his legs and hoisted himself up, lurking over to the citizens who were just finishing assembling the bed. They all reacted with a sort of quick-footed panic as he came near, scrambling out of his way and glancing at him anxiously. Turbo craned his neck low to peer at them, grinning. "Glitch's orders, hm? Sent you in here all alone with me, did she?"

The candies looked at him a moment, then quickly returned to their work, trying their best to ignore him, shooting him fearful sidelong glances. He smiled coolly and lay himself back down just beside them, watching with bemusement as the little people shuffled about in their work.

Funny how she trusted him...very funny.


	3. Chapter 3 - Restless Aggression

_Author's Note: WELL, I promised you this would be up today and it is. I am not fond of this chapter, although I am fond a few particular things in it. Thanks as always to Lava for editing and to all my readers, I love you sincerely, thank you for reading! For anyone who missed it, I posted some flashback drabble over on the boy's tumblr at "ask-ktb-and-the-twins" and I'll be posting some more short flashback scenes there in the future, so poke around over there if you like. You'll find it under "additional tags." Anyway. Enjoy this chapter! My characters decided to just take the story in a direction I was not intending, so now I've got some rewriting to do on the future chapters...ah well. Characters will do that. Enjoy the emotional roller-coaster, as Lava called it._

* * *

Chapter Three – Restless Aggression

Turbo lay on the floor in the royal chambers, gazing up at the throne that had once fitted his old kart. He snorted, scraping at the floor with his claws quietly. It had been three days since he had glitched back to the cybug form and inadvertently attacked Sugar Rush's president in this chamber. For those three days, he'd done nothing but loaf around in the twins' room, trying in vain to control his glitching, and growing ever more tense and restless and frustrated. He was furious with the glitch, and yet he knew she was right. He couldn't be allowed to run the roster, not at this time anyway. With the whole arcade watching him, the cybug form certainly wouldn't help public opinion of him any...

Yet today he'd been summoned, first thing in the morning, before the arcade was to open, to see "Miss Vanellope," and so begrudgingly, but hopefully, he'd left the twins asleep in bed and gone with the guards to the royal chambers, only to be left waiting, unsupervised, wondering what the glitch was thinking to leave him here with the code vault so close at hand.

He continued to stare at his old throne, his expression softening. Glancing around to ensure his privacy, he slowly hoisted himself up and crept over to the piece, looking it over. The glitch had overhauled the thing, removed the most impressive aspect of its design, the cookie-cutter shape that fit the back of the royal kart perfectly. Yet it still retained a certain semblance of its form from the time of his rule. Ah, he loved this throne. It had always given him a certain sense of...justification.

Sighing, he leaned up against the back, rubbing on it lightly with the side of his face.

"Y'know that's not _yours_ anymore."

Turbo perked, turning quickly as Vanellope came down the last of the stairs trailing down from the side of the room. He blushed and grimaced, tugging back from the throne and weaving away from it bitterly. "It ought to be."

"Tell King Candy he can stop complaining," Vanellope said, striding toward the throne herself. "And Turbo ought to know better."

Turbo frowned with a growl. He still disliked having the two avatars discussed separately, yet he had begun to acknowledge that there were certain distinct differences between them. It was a constant effort to remind himself not to think of Sugar Rush as his own, though he knew quite firmly that it wasn't. Vestiges of King Candy's code were always asserting themselves in his head, like old habits he couldn't completely ignore.

He moved away from the throne and curled himself back around to face her, clicking his claws against his palms restlessly. "Shouldn't you have your guards in here?"

"I'm not worried," Vanellope said dismissively, taking a seat in his, her, throne, "especially not now that the twins clued me in to your little 'sweet spot.'"

Turbo's brows fell and he looked away from her, twisting around and starting to pace with agitation. "What do you want, glitch?!"

Vanellope pursed her lips. "Some proper respect?"

Turbo laughed sharply, glancing at her. "Good luck with that."

She shrugged, leaning her chin into her palm. "Gettin' sort of sick of being cooped up, are ya, buggy?" He continued to stare at her coldly, twisting his neck around as he paced. "Would ya like to take the twins out for the day?"

"What for?" he snapped.

She shrugged. "You've got an awful lot of energy to be locked up all the time... Maybe if you got some of that energy _out_, you wouldn't be trying to maul people for making you mad all the time." He scowled. "Either way, the twins thought it might be good for you to stretch your legs. Or wings."

"The twins?" he muttered. So they went begging to the glitch for his sake? Guh, when would they stop?

"You can go pretty much anywhere you like if you can keep yourself hidden," Vanellope said, shifting about in the throne to throw her legs over one arm, leaning back on the other, "but you gotta be back here by the end of arcade hours. Otherwise I'm sending the cops after you and then you can have all the fun of being captured again, if you want."

Turbo scowled, glancing aside swiftly. "I didn't agree to anything."

"Well the twins already think they're going," Vanellope said, smirking, "so if you wanna let them down, that's your problem, but they're gonna pester you all day if you do."

Turbo growled, snapping his tails against the floor with a loud crack. "Damn you!"

"Turbug, King Turbug," Vanellope cooed, waving her hand, "this game's got an E-rating, you know! Now run along, little bug, and collect your twins for your outing!"

Turbo hissed through his teeth and turned stiffly, glitching rapidly along the side of his face and down his neck as he stalked toward the doors, cursing under his breath.

* * *

Turbo landed in the ice cream snow as gently as possible, but on his spindly legs he couldn't help but sink low into the stuff as he came down. The twins gave a laugh, each jumping off his back on either side and into the white fluff, where they promptly began stomping heavily around the cybug to tackle one another in a flurry of white fluff. Turbo shifted a little in the snow, and soon finding how difficult it was for him to move as deeply as he sunk into it, he lowered himself down on his belly with a huff and rest his chin on the surface.

The glitch was right, he thought bitterly, it was good to be out of the castle. Just getting to use his wings, getting to be out in the open air, had him feeling a bit better. And it was good to watch the twins having fun, rolling around in the ice cream snow. It was the first time they'd ever seen snow, he thought vaguely. He watched them, Ted grabbing Ned by the arm and tugging him down into a drift with a laugh, and recalled the first time he'd discovered the ice cream peaks himself.

"This stuff is great!" Ted called from where he lay, mostly buried now, his brother sitting up beside him. "You shoulda taken us here sooner!"

Turbo watched quietly. Ned lifted a scoop of the snow in his hand, sniffing at it before taking a small lick. Ted looked up at him curiously, reaching up to tug on his brother's sleeve until Ned turned to face him. The brothers exchanged a silent look before Ned suddenly smushed the ball of ice cream into his brother's face with a grin. Ted sputtered as he brushed the snow off himself, shoving at his brother and laughing.

The two rolled in the snow for a while, finding different drifts of different flavors and trying each one eagerly. By the time they wandered back to the cybug, their suits were covered in varying colors and flavors of ice cream and they were shivering, although smiling.

"C'mon, Turbug," Ted said, coming nearer to the bug while his brother hung back, digging into the snow with his hands. "You're supposed to be out here burning off some energy, not lying there like a lump!"

Turbo looked up at Ted lazily, frowning. The other racer had come to stand in front of him, fists on his hips. Turbo snorted. "I can't move in this stuff. I'm too big."

Ted hunkered down, grinning. "Use your wings then. C'mon, lazybutt."

Turbo lifted a claw and placed it on Ted's knee, pushing him just enough to knock the racer off balance and into the snow. Ted fell onto his back, sticking his tongue out. Then he blinked as a white blur flew past him and collided with Turbo's face in a white sparkling explosion. Ted tilted his chin down, staring at the bug. Turbo was blinking rapidly, his face splattered with ice cream snow and frozen in a look of sheer disbelief. His eyes shifted slowly to look past Ted and zeroed in on Ned, who was standing a few feet away, blinking and looking quite startled himself. "...I-I was...aiming for Ted."

Ted leaned back in the snow, staring at his brother upside down. Then he perked, quickly covering his face as the cybug in front of him suddenly leaped up, buzzing his wings to life as he bounded over Ted and dove for the other racer. Ned gave a cry and scrambled to run but Turbo came down on him like a sack of rocks, tackling him deep into the snow. Ted, who, to be completely honest, couldn't be certain whether Turbo had been reacting with serious anger or not, scrambled up and stumbled after him. The cybug had sunk low into the ice cream drifts when he landed and Ned was no longer to be seen at all.

Very nearly panicking, Ted grabbed hold of the cybug's armor and tugged on him, when suddenly Ned let out a laugh from somewhere in the white. Ted let out a breath, his heart still pounding as relief began to settle into him. He waded close enough to see into the snowy crevice Turbo had made in the snow. The cybug had pinned the other racer in the ice cream trench and was grinning, his forehead against Ned's. Ted let out a shaky sigh, smiling. "You big jerk," he muttered, shoving against Turbo's side.

The bug shifted his weight, leaning into the snow on the other side of the trench to look round at Ted. "You wanted me to burn off some energy, right?" His wings flickered to life again and began to hum loudly. Ted blinked, yelping and tugging back as Turbo grabbed hold of him with his claws and suddenly launched into the air.

"Ah, Turbo!" Ted scrambled to grab hold of the bug's arm, hanging on tightly as he was lifted from the snowy mountaintop, his brother blinking up helplessly at him from below. Turbo had only gotten a short way into the air though when there was a sudden glitch that coursed through him deeply, separating the pixels all along his body. He heard Ted give a yell and suddenly _felt_ the other racer grab hold of him as they began falling. Panicked, he latched onto Ted in return, grey hands clambering to hang onto the other racer. Before he could fully process what had happened, the two of them dropped into the snow heavily next to Ned.

"You're you again!" Ned cried, scrambling over to them.

Ted winced, on his back deep in the snow, with Turbo on top of him, blinking his wide yellow eyes. "W-what just happened...?"

Ted took a shaky breath, watching Turbo as he sat up, looking at his grey hands. "W-why did...?" The racer's eyes widened as the glitch suddenly ripped through his coding again. After a rustling of pixels over his body, the cybug form had returned, his legs sinking deeply into the snow as he hovered over Ted, trembling.

Ted blinked up at him. "...and we're back," he muttered uncertainly.

Turbo breathed out shakily, looking at his clawed hands, pressing down into the snow. How could this be happening? How could he have somehow...assimilated the cybug's avatar into his code? He perked as he suddenly felt Ted's hands on his face and returned his attention to the racer sharply.

Ted smiled up at him. "Calm down, kid, you'll figure this out."

Turbo hesitated, then tugged free from him, pushing off Ted and scrambling into the snow, but his legs quickly poked through the substance and he found himself slumped into a drift yet again, his head poking out of the white, huffing.

"Turbo!" Ned called, shuffling over to him in a flurry of white, "You've got to use your wings!"

"I know, Ned!" Turbo snapped as his wings buzzed to life.

* * *

Turbo scrambled back onto the balcony and tugged himself into the open window of the twins' room, his limbs flailing a bit as he tried to balance himself on the banister before tugging himself in. The twins toppled off him as they came into the room, laughing. Turbo buzzed his wings a few last times as he got back on his feet, shaking the snow out of his joints stiffly. "I think we're a bit late. The arcade's already closed."

"Well nobody saw us," Ted said, waving a hand. "We're fine."

Ned got to his feet and pulled his brother up as well, both of them brushing the last of the ice cream snow from their clothes. "I wonder if we can race today," Ned murmured.

Turbo scowled momentarily and stalked past the two racers, back to the oversized bed where he promptly crawled up and curled up on, sighing. "Use some of your energy up anyway?" Ted called to him.

"I don't know," Turbo muttered. "I still feel restless...This body's too big and too tense and too...everything. I'm sick of it."

Ned stepped over to the bed, his brother close behind him. He tilted his head, looking down at the unhappy bug who stared up at him with his chin at the foot of the bed. "What's making you so restless though?"

"I don't know," Turbo groaned, "it's...how I used to feel when I couldn't race, so maybe it's just that."

"It's different though?" Ted asked, leaning on his brother's shoulder.

"More intense," Turbo said, glancing at him with his eyes. "Maybe it's the cybug coding, I just...feel like I'm not doing anything I'm supposed to be doing."

Ted leaned his helmet against Ned's lightly. "Well you're not killing soldiers and laying eggs."

Turbo growled roughly. Then he lifted his head suddenly and glanced toward the door with a sharp pair of eyes, silent. The twins glanced him over then looked to the door themselves, slowly becoming aware of the sound of footsteps and voices in the hall.

Turbo paused momentarily, then scrambled off the bed, sweeping past the twins and skittering to the door. He leaned on it lightly, clenching his claws into his palms.

* * *

"He's a bigger threat than ever, kid, I don't know how you're not seeing this!"

Vanellope sighed loudly, turning around to face Ralph with a frown. "How's he a bigger threat, stinkbrain?"

Ralph stood, meaty hands clenched at his sides. The awkward and clearly uncomfortable Felix stood beside him, gazing at Vanellope wearily. It had been a frustrating afternoon thus far. Straight to Sugar Rush at the end of arcade hours to answer Vanellope's summons, only to be greeted with the news that there was a certain cybug roving about the game yet again. "You've got him living in the castle!" Ralph insisted, waving a hand. "And you let him go off with nobody but the twins, he could be out there doing anything, Vanellope!"

Vanellope huffed out a breath, rolling her eyes. "Like what, Ralph? Layin' eggs? The worst he could do is get into the code vault and he hasn't even tried it!"

"Not that you know of," Ralph muttered.

Vanellope huffed loudly. "Felix!" She turned quickly, looking to the handyman. Felix jumped as the attention was turned on him, smiling helpfully. "What do you think?"

Felix hesitated, biting on his lip lightly as he shrugged. "Oh, Miss Vanellope, I don't know...It does seem a bit dangerous, but..." He flinched as Ralph shot him a quick look. "It's just, well, Turbo did an awful thing to this game, and the cybugs near destroyed it, and now you've sorta got both living right here with you..."

"Look," Vanellope sighed, "it will be _fine. _I wanted you two to know, just...well just in case, alright? Don't tell anyone else. We're still trying to figure out if there's a way to glitch him back without having him run the roster again. If the rest of the arcade finds out he's a cybug, it's just gonna be chaos."

Ralph let out a breath, his brows low, and folded his massive arms over his chest. "Well you've gotta be more careful, kid. At least have your guards with him. You can't just let him off on his own in the game."

"The twins were with him," Vanellope muttered.

"I still say you can't trust them."

Vanellope shot Ralph another look and turned back toward Felix quickly. "Felix!"

Felix jumped a little again and looked aside, shifting his shoulders meekly. "Miss Vanellope, you know I love the twins," he murmured, "but Ralph is right. There's an awful lot involved here, much of which you just can't see from here in Sugar Rush. Those boys get into a lot of trouble in this arcade..."

Within the room just a few feet down the hall from the trio, Turbo perked, leaning more against the door. He could just see Ted and Ned out of the corner of his eye, each growing tense as they watched the cybug.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Vanellope asked.

"I warned you when you first wanted to bring them in here!" Ralph argued in frustration.

Felix stepped in front of him slightly, speaking softly. "Miss Vanellope, they've behaved rather well these past years, I mean...since the first couple after their game got unplugged, but recently, they've...started up again, now that Turbo is on everyone's minds again..."

"Started up what?" Vanellope demanded, her tone sharpening.

"Getting drunk," Ralph began, "cursing out other characters, starting fights, messing with other games."

Turbo's eyes widened. He turned sharply toward the twins. They were both looking at him guiltily, clasping hands tightly.

"Of course, it's mostly Ted," Felix said softly. "But it seems Ned will lie for him, if need be..."

Turbo stared at the two of them, speechless.

From outside the door, Vanellope muttered incredulously, "I thought people were just exaggerating about that sort of stuff..."

"Well they...may exaggerate," Felix admitted, "but I can attest to the fact that Ned has, on more than a few occasions, dragged his...ah...bleeding, h-hungover brother into our game, looking for help..."

"And Felix has always been quick to fix him up," Ralph muttered.

Turbo's tails swished as he tried to make sense of what he was hearing, staring at the two familiar faces in front of him, two faces he could never imagine doing anything so stupid or cruel or unkind to anyone. "Is this true?" he muttered under his breath, no longer hearing the conversation going on outside the door.

Ted squeezed his brother's hand, nodding stiffly. "Y-yeah, it's true."

Turbo suddenly remembered the day the arcade characters had broken into Sugar Rush, the way Ted had lunged at Rex, the way he'd been ready to fight any of those characters, and the way those characters had looked at Ted. In the past two weeks, Turbo had tried his best not to think about those events, had chalked them up to part of the chaos and foul energy of that day, but now...

"Why?" he growled, his voice rising now. "Why would you do that?!"

Ted swallowed hard, lowering his brows. "It's none of your business, alright...?!"

Turbo breathed out sharply through his nose, lifting his chin. "None of my business?!" He suddenly began stalking toward them, his form rising up. Ned tugged his brother backwards, tightening his grip, but Ted held his ground. "You're getting yourself drunk and beat up and it's none of my business?!"

Ted stepped forward to meet the bug and was abruptly snatched by the collar. Ned released him fearfully, clenching his hands. "T-ted..!"

"What I do outside this game isn't your problem!" Ted shouted, kicking and grabbing hold of the cybrid's arm as he was lifted off his feet. "What the hell's gotten into you?!"

"You've been lying to me!" Turbo yelled, stalking forward still.

"I haven't been lying!" Ted shouted back, kicking at him as best he could, "I just haven't been telling you everything!"

Turbo grit his fangs, growling loudly as he shoved the racer against the wall. "Well, start talking!"

The door was torn open nearly off its hinges as Ralph, Felix, and Vanellope burst into the room, Goodbar close behind them. Turbo turned swiftly, dropping Ted, who landed somewhat unsteadily on his feet, flinching for the pain in his neck.

Ralph immediately launched into attack, rushing forward and grabbing hold of the cybug before he could react. Turbo kicked at him swiftly, trying to scramble out of grip with his front legs, tearing at the floor's tiles with his claws, but at his reduced size he was still mostly overwhelmed. Ted reached out for him quickly, his eyes panicked. "L-let him go, he wasn't serious!"

Before Ralph could respond, the cybug finally managed to land a good sharp-footed kick to the inside of the wrecker's elbow, enough that he loosed his grip long enough for Turbo to buzz his wings to life and propel himself out of reach. He landed a few feet away in something of a crash as he tried to untangle his insectile limbs. He scrambled up quickly as Ralph came at him and went tearing across the room.

Felix and Vanellope watched helplessly, Felix admittedly terrified and holding to Vanellope's shoulder, but the young girl was nothing but upset, yelling at Ralph all the while to leave Turbo be. The cybug finally managed to get to Ned, grabbing the other racer in his claws and pulling him in close as a hostage. Ned blinked and grabbed hold of the other 'racer' in return, watching in fear as Ralph came for them. To Turbo's dismay, the wrecker didn't even hesitate at the sight of Ned and continued to swing at him, forcing bug and hostage both to duck out of the way of one of the massive fists before Turbo was abruptly grabbed around the neck by the other hand and tugged away from Ned.

He scrambled in frustration but was already tired from being out with the twins in the snow. "Get your filthy hands off of me..!" he shouted as Ralph tried to at least gain some control over the flailing limbs. His voice rose in octave, shifting as he glitched rapidly down his back, a more familiar tone of voice taking precedence momentarily, "You stupid oaf, warthog, wrecker—let go of me—!," he glitched again, his voice quavering with it, "Just get the hell off!" He stabbed a foot finally down onto one of Ralph's bare feet and the wrecker let out a yell of pain as he released him. Turbo launched himself out of his grasp, his wings buzzing again, but without proper assessment of the room, he crashed heavily into the wall beyond Ned and collapsed there, scraping at the floor in an attempt to right himself. Ned stepped in front of the cybug quickly, putting out his arms in a defense, a tiny figure compared to Ralph, but looking defiant as he ever had just the same.

Ralph clenched his fists, biting back the pain in his foot. He was just stepping forward to finish things when Ted grabbed hold of his arm, holding him back. Ralph turned to him sharply, tugging himself free. "He's lost his mind!"

"He has not!" Ted shouted.

"Everybody stop!" Vanellope yelled, throwing out her hands.

Turbo breathed out heavily as the room fell silent. Considering that Ralph wasn't coming forward any longer, Ned turned and quickly knelt down beside Turbo, taking his head in his hands. The cybug looked up at him in frustration, then lifted his chin from his palms, looking to Ralph again defensively. He began pushing himself up quickly, wings flickering on and off.

Vanellope looked at him hotly, her fists clenched. "Stay down, stupid!"

Turbo shot her a fast look, his tails cracking loudly as he whipped them against the floor. "You tell your friend to keep the hell away from me!"

"I'm trying!" she yelled back, looking at Ralph quickly. Ralph returned to look in frustration.

"He was attacking one of his own, kid," he said, gesturing, "I told you he was unstable!"

"He's not unstable!" Ted shouted.

"Would you all stop shouting?!" Vanellope yelled over the lot of them. The room fell silent again. Turbo slumped back to the floor, his chin in Ned's lap. The racer touched his forehead lightly. "Ned!" Vanellope shouted. The racer perked, looking at her quickly. "Why was Turbo attacking your brother?"

Ned blinked at her, looking toward his brother, who was still glaring hotly at Ralph, then back at her again. "He overheard...what Felix was saying, about how...how we've been acting lately."

Vanellope considered this, looking at Turbo for confirmation, but the bug was too busy glaring at Ralph himself to acknowledge Ned's words. "And there was no weird cybug coding going on?"

Ned shook his head. "Just...Turbo. Being mad. B-but not crazy mad! Just..angry."

Vanellope looked at Ralph quickly. "See?"

"We fight!" Ted spoke up suddenly, glaring, "We're brothers, sometimes that happens!"

Ralph snorted, turning back toward him. "Yeah well that _brother_ of yours could easily kill you, might wanna think twice about fighting with hi-

"Get out!" Turbo suddenly barked, scrambling out of Ned's hands, his eyes wide and hot. "All of you, get out!"

Vanellope frowned at him seriously, not quick to take an order from the cybug, but at the same time, she felt they'd antagonized him enough and leaving was really the least they could do. "Ralph, Felix, come on."

Ralph looked to Vanellope before shooting Ted a look. The twin glared back hotly. Turbo watched them, his heart pounding. "You too!" he shouted.

Ted perked, looking away from Ralph swiftly to meet Turbo's eyes. He blinked. "M-me? This is my room...!"

"I want you out!" Turbo nearly shrieked, his voice quavering on the edge between himself and King Candy, his face glitching rapidly.

Ted gave him a long uncertain look. "What about Ned?"

"He stays," Turbo snapped, reaching out and snatching Ned's arm in his claws. The racer blinked as he was tugged back against the bug, glancing up at him uncertainly himself.

Ted lowered his brows, admittedly not keen on leaving his brother in Turbo's care when the cybug was this riled up. But at the same time, he sincerely doubted Turbo would or could do anything to Ned, even at his worst. He let out a shaky breath, his face red with anger still. "Just hit him between the eyes if he gets weird," Ted muttered, stalking now past Ralph and the others to leave. Ned watched him go rather helplessly, glancing to Vanellope as Ralph and Felix quietly made their exit as well.

Vanellope returned Ned's gaze quietly, giving Turbo one last serious glance before she stepped out into the hall. In a moment, the door clicked shut behind them all and the room fell into silence.

Turbo let out a long tense breath, loosing his grip on Ned's arm as he did so. The racer looked up at him, then pushed himself up and back as Turbo moved past him, nearly hauling himself up onto the bed and collapsing there wearily. Ned approached him quietly. "Why did you want me to stay?"

"I don't want to be alone," Turbo muttered, glancing at him as he tucked his legs in at his sides.

Ned hesitated, watching him, before he carefully climbed onto the bed and scooted over beside the bug. Turbo glanced up at him with his eyes, pausing a moment before he shifted himself around, lifting his head and gently setting his chin in Ned's lap. The racer smiled lightly and brushed his hand on the king's forehead. "You were pretty mad..."

Turbo hummed quietly, closing his eyes with a sigh through his nose. "What does your stupid brother think he's doing anyway? Picking fights...he'll get himself killed."

"He's survived this long," Ned murmured. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you. We've actually pretty well stayed out of trouble since...way back when. It just started up again now that people are talking about you again..."

Turbo opened his eyes just slightly, gazing out at nothing. "...he's got no business sticking up for me. I can take care of myself."

"Well, everyone used to think you were dead, so..." Ned tilted his head, glancing around the room quietly. "Ted wanted people to remember you for being a great racer, instead of...y'know, a madman. That's how it started anyway...After a while, I think he just started to hate everyone. Now I'm not sure which it is."

Turbo tilted his head lightly against the racer's leg. "Ted used to be...one of the most popular people in the arcade."

Ned bit his lip lightly. "Not...so much any more."

Turbo closed his eyes again, tightly now. It didn't make sense. He knew how much time had passed, and how fickle the arcade could be, but...he also knew Ted, he knew how loving and open and excited he had always been about people. If he wasn't out at a party, he was bringing people back to Turbo Time with him. The thought that...Turbo's leaving could have changed all that was impossible to believe. How could Ted ever be anything other than what he'd always been?


	4. Chapter 4 - Old Habits

_Author Notes: Well, a convention threw me way off schedule, but I present to you, finally, chapter four! Just so you guys know, I am determined to finish this fanfic at all costs, more than anything because of you lovely readers and reviewers and followers. I started this story for me and I want to finish it for you. This chapter is an up-and-down one for me, but I hope you'll enjoy it. This chapter includes my favorite little exchange of dialogue for the entire fic, and maybe no one else will like it half as much as I do, but...heh. I had fun writing it. (Thanks as always to Lava for editing.)_

* * *

Chapter Four – Old Habits

_Twenty-Some Years Ago..._

Ted stirred at the sound of footsteps in the hall. It was still early, he thought vaguely, the arcade wasn't even open yet. He snuggled up against his brother's side, closing his eyes tighter and trying to relax again. Three knocks sounded outside the apartment, loud and stiff. Ted listened silently to the sound of footfalls passing by, hurrying down the hall and moving for the front door. He breathed out softly and wriggled his arm under the blankets, finding Ned's hand and interlacing their fingers gently. Ned leaned against him lightly in return, nuzzling his cheek into his brother's hair.

He could hear the door creak open out of sight.

"Felix," the voice came, laced with disapproval, "I hope you won't find this forward of us, but we want them out."

"Please, keep your voices down..."

Another voice: "They cannot be here when the arcade opens, Felix, you must know that."

"I understand, but there's time still, and they're sleeping-"

"You must understand our concerns, here, I mean, considering who they are and their history-"

"I do understand, but-"

"Just make certain they're gone before quarter alert, Felix. I beg of you."

"...I will, I will."

"Dear me, can't believe you ever let those boys in here...Felix, really..."

The door clicked shut quietly.

Ted lay, his eyes just open, gazing out at nothing. Beside him, Ned opened his own eyes and glanced at him, sadly. Ted returned the glance and squeezed his brother's hand, sighing. "Morning," he murmured. Ned nodded softly, lowering his eyes. Ted leaned over and kissed his brother's cheek, sighing again.

Felix' footsteps sounded softly as he stepped back down the hall, pausing in the doorway to the living room, where the two unplugged racers were laid out on his couch. He was standing in his shorts and a t-shirt, looking haggard and guilty. The twins looked up at him silently as he entered. The moment he met their eyes, he looked away quickly, biting his lip. "Did you boys hear that? I'm so sorry...I hoped they wouldn't wake you."

"It's okay," Ned murmured. Ted looked back at his brother and leaned into him gently, closing his eyes again. "W-we can get dressed and go..."

Felix shook his head faintly. "You've got an hour til the arcade opens, it's no hurry..."

"No, we should go," Ted murmured. His twin nodded, his eyes low.

"Thank you," Ned said meekly, propping himself up on his elbows. "For the couch...and for fixing up Ted." Ted hummed quietly, nodding.

Felix nodded himself, looking vague and helpless. He hesitated, opening his mouth to speak, then without a word, stepped out of the room to get dressed himself, leaving the twins alone. After a little while, Ned pushed himself up to a sit and Ted slowly followed suit, running his hands through his short hair. "You feel okay?" Ned asked gently.

Ted nodded, glancing at his brother. "...so this is what it's gonna be like from now on."

Ned looked at him quietly, then nodded. "I think so, yeah..."

"I wish I understood how you handle this," Ted murmured with a sigh. "You're an inspiration, Ned..."

Ned smiled and a subtle warmth came into his cheeks. He leaned over and nuzzled his cheek against his brother's face gently. "That's all I want to be..."

Ted managed a smile, watching as Ned rose and stretched his arms above his head, leaning to either side before he began to glance around for his jumpsuit. Ted watched in silence as his brother retrieved the two blue-and-white helmets from the base of the bed and placed his own beside him.

* * *

_Present Day_

Ted lifted his head from the bar slowly. It had been years since he had woken up in Tappers, feeling sick and woozy and uncertain about how he'd gotten there. He blinked his bleary eyes slowly as the deep colors of the game came into focus, eventually revealing the bar in front of him and patrons around him.

"Ah, so you're awake."

Ted turned slowly at the sound of the old bartender's voice. Tapper approached him with his usual clipped movements, tipping his head at the racer as he leaned on the bar in front of him. "Thought I was going to have to get somebody to move you out for arcade hours."

Ted hummed softly, lifting his hand to rub his palm into his eye. "Been here all night, have I?"

Tapped hummed an affirmative. "Been a while since you spent the night in here. Heard things were going pretty well for you over in that Sugar Rush game. Something happen?"

Ted ran his hands through his hair, closing his eyes tightly. He thought of what he recalled of the night before, of Ralph's words and Turbo's yelling. Flinching a little at the fuzzy pain in his head, he frowned and muttered, "Not really, no...I should get back." Ted stood and reached forward for his helmet, taking it under his arm as he stepped around the bar stool.

"Take it easy, Ted," Tapper said lightly, "don't wanna see you getting into trouble again..."

"Right," Ted murmured as he headed for the door. His body felt stiff and sore, and he already regretted staying out when he should have gone back to his brothers. He sighed. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

Ted turned his head at the sound of whispering, and met the eyes of two women who were looking at him and speaking under their breath. They turned away quickly as he looked at them. Ted sighed and shook his head, pulling his helmet on as he stepped out.

* * *

Turbo awoke early. He blinked his eyes open slowly, staring up at the candy paneled ceiling above him. The cybug lay still for a moment, trying to remember what exactly had occurred the night before. Then he lifted his neck a little and peered down over himself. He was lying on his back with his legs curled in toward his belly. Ned himself was laid out along him, the racer's arms hanging limply around the bug's chest. Turbo breathed out quietly and tilted his head, casting a glance around the room. Ted was no where to be seen.

As he lay his head back down, the only thought that get get through his mind was..._the last thing I did was yell at him. _It seemed foolish to think that, pathetic even. What did it matter anyway? He would be back, he would be fine. Everything would go back to normal.

He had the vague sort of feeling that he'd had_ that _thought once before...

Ned slept for another hour or so, a relief to Turbo, who had laid awake most of the night with the racer, who despite his assurances of not being worried about his brother, just couldn't seem to get to sleep. Now Ned awoke, still seeming groggy and concerned. He tipped his chin up and looked toward the cybug, opening his eyes slowly. "Is Ted back?_"_

Well, Turbo through dismally, at least he had gotten a few hours peace. "Not yet," he said softly. Feeling guilty, he craned his neck and nuzzled against the other racer gently. "He will be."

Ned took a soft breath before he reached out and hugged the cybug's neck. Turbo stayed close to his brother a little while until there was a knock at the door, and a moment later the guard outside—Goodbar, looking as incompetent as ever—opened it to allow "President Von Schweetz" to enter.

"Morning, boys," she greeted, lacking her usual jovial tone. She looked somewhat haggard and, if it could be said, disappointed. She gave them both a weary look and then glanced around the room. "So Ted never came back, huh?"

"No," Turbo said coldly, shifting himself a little on the bed as he withdrew from Ned's embrace. "I was hoping he was elsewhere in the palace..."

Vanellope glanced back at him, pausing before she shook her head. "I'll send someone to look for him...In the meantime, how are you feeling?"

Turbo lowered his gaze. Ned looked up at him quietly, then he pushed himself up to a sit. The bug shifted a little, allowing the racer to slide off onto the bed and lean back against him. "I'm fine," he muttered.

Vanellope watched the two of them with interest. "Looked like you hit that wall pretty hard last night," she commented dryly, stepping past the bed.

Turbo kept his head low, watching the child silently as she stepped over to the window. "You didn't tell the wrecker," he murmured.

Vanellope glanced back at him. "Hm?"

"You didn't tell him," Turbo said lower, frowning deeply, "about my...'sweet spot.'" He glanced down a bit, blushing faintly. "Or if you did, he was too much an idiot bother using it to stop me last night..."

Vanellope gave him a long, solemn look before she turned back toward the window. "I didn't tell him."

Turbo lifted his eyes and stared at the child. It was the first time that he felt truly grateful to her for anything, not that he would thank her aloud. Still, the thought that she could have revealed his greatest weakness but chose not to was...

He glanced at Ned as the boy reached up and touched his face. He looked at him quietly, brushing his claws against the racer's hand lightly.

"Y'know, I don't know think Ralph can really hurt you," Vanellope said. "In Hero's Duty, they shoot the bugs, y'know, with big fancy guns. I mean, Ralph is tough, but." Turbo lifted his eyes to her silently. A strain of curiosity ran through him. What was she doing? Trying to console him? Did it look like he needed consoling? Vanellope shrugged and turned back toward the window, looking over her kingdom. "Well, even if he could, you ought to regenerate here. You did once."

"I'd rather not test it again," he growled under his breath. "With the wrecker or anything else..."

Vanellope smirked faintly. "Well," she said, "Ralph promised to quit going after you. For whatever that's worth." She shrugged with a grin. "He is a 'bad guy' after all."

Turbo stared at her. For reasons he wasn't entirely sure of, a faint smile tugged at his lips, but it faded suddenly at the sound of voices in the hall. He turned his head quickly and zeroed in on the door, listening closely until Goodbar pushed it open and Ted wandered into the doorway, looking a little worse for wear. He stepped into the room slowly, leaning on the wall for support as he looked in at them with a wry smile. "...hey."

Ned scrambled up off the bed and over to him, taking his brother's face in his hands and kissing his cheek quickly before he pulled him into a hug. Ted flinched a little but hugged his brother back, smiling wearily. Turbo and Vanellope watched the two of them, the child with a grim expression and the cybug looking a mix of anger and relief. Ned slowly released his brother and leaned back from him. "You didn't come back last night.."

"Yeah," Ted murmured, "I'm sorry about that...Sort of lost track of time." He glanced past his brother at the cybug, then at Vanellope. "Sorry to...all of you."

Vanellope had just opened her mouth to respond when the bug abruptly slipped off the bed and began scrambling for Ted. Ted blinked at him slowly, drawing back a little when Turbo grabbed his arm in one clawed hand and tugged him close. "Where were you?!"

Ted flinched at the sound, pulling his other arm up to press his helmet harder against his ear. "_Tappers_, keep your voice down."

_Tappers!_ Of all places! Turbo stared at him, not knowing what to do or even how to react to him any more. How careless, how unthinking! Turbo squeezed the racer's arm slightly before releasing him, crouching down on his legs to face Ted levelly. Ted looked back at him grimly, raising a hand and rubbing lightly where he had been grabbed. "...did I worry you?"

"No!" Turbo snapped. Ted flinched again, shutting one eye as it teared up. "But you kept Ned up half the night wondering why the hell you didn't come back!"

Ted glanced to his brother and back at Turbo again. "...I'm sorry," he murmured.

Turbo stared at him still, angry and offended, but beneath that, he was hurt and concerned and confused, most of all.

"Ted," Vanellope spoke up. The racer looked past the cybug in front of him, squeezing his brother's hand as Ned took his gently. Vanellope slipped her hands into her hoodie pocket and stepped over from the window. "You and Ned were invited to race with a few of the racers after hours today...If you're up for it."

Ted blinked at her, then glanced to Ned. "S-sure, I guess. I should feel better by then."

Turbo made an abrupt snort and turned from the group of them, coiling his body round and stalking away back to the bed, his neck low and his back arched. He climbed up onto the bed and thunked down heavily, tucking his legs in around him and curling his tails tightly. Ted watched guiltily, looking toward Vanellope again slowly. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Vanellope..."

Vanellope gave him a hard look, one that seemed mature, for a child her age. But she wasn't really a child, he thought vaguely, she had been through hell and back, just like them.

"Come on down to the track when you feel better," she said. "We'll race as soon as arcade hours end."

* * *

Ted had been reluctant to stick around with Turbo. He could tell he'd upset the cybug, and wasn't eager to talk about why. Seeing as the way the cybug's anger had been manifesting in violence of late, Vanellope suggested the two of them give him his space and watch the day's races from the grandstands. So with that, the twins left the cybug in the palace once again, alone and brooding.

Arcade hours had just ended, and Turbo was lying by the window watching what could be seen of the Royal Raceway. He was feeling rather hopeless again, he was deeply troubled by all the information he had learned about Ted and Ned. He found he could do nothing but lie still and stare emptily outdoors.

Turbo lifted his head at a bit of sound out in the hall. At first, just raised voices, then a bit of muffled yelling echoing outside. Turbo grimaced. Just what he needed, someone coming to yell at him while there was no one around to intervene. And in the cybug form, he had to keep himself hidden. He laid his head back down gloomily. The voices came nearer til they were just outside the door. He growled. Damn those guards, what were they doing out there? Just letting anybody into the palace, as usual. Was it too much to ask for a little peace and quiet? If he was going to be left to his own devices, couldn't he at least be left alone?

He pushed himself to his feet and skittered over to the door, bearing his teeth. "Would you keep it down, I'm not in any mood to-!" The door was suddenly torn open, and he came face-to-face with Sgt. Tamora Calhoun, who immediately leveled a sizable weapon at his forehead.

Turbo gaped at her, a hesitation that would have cost him his life had Werther, guarding the door, not abruptly pushed the gun aside as she fired. The blast ripped through part of the wall with a loud _fwoosh_ of energy. Turbo immediately bolted into the doorway, knocking Calhoun and the guard aside and scrambling past them in a panic. He alighted his wings with a buzz and raised up in the high-ceilinged hall, but he soon heard the _fwoosh_ of another blast, and one of his wings unexpectedly shorted out. He found himself sprawling to the floor, collapsed in a tangle of limbs. Panicked, he scrambled up and away down the hall.

His heart raced. Calhoun! What the hell was she doing here?! Who told her he'd turned back into a cybug?! Damn that wrecker, it had to be him! Wait—no! He growled loudly. Dammit, _dammit, _Ted. Ted who had stayed out all night at Tappers and come back smelling like root beer, dammit!

Another blast rang out, careening into the wall near his head. Desperate and terrified, he found himself shouting the name of the last person he ever wanted to get help from, "Vanellope!"

He dove behind a pillar in the grand hall leading to the royal chambers just as another blast careened into it. The candy pillar shattered into dust and shrapnel that exploded around him. Would he regenerate this time? There was no telling. Mod he hoped so! What a way to go!

He scrambled out from behind the fallen pillar and bolted for the royal chambers just in time to see Vanellope come running out. "Glitch!" he gasped, very near collapsing in front of her as she stared wide-eyed at Calhoun rushing toward them.

"Kid, move!" Calhoun shouted.

Vanellope rushed to Turbo's side quickly and grabbed one of his legs in both her hands. "Stop! Ms. Calhoun, what are you doing?!" Turbo immediately saw his savior and tugged her in against him, facing Calhoun with wide eyes. The woman still had her gun trained on him, her eyes sharp.

"Let her go, bug!" she barked.

Turbo craned his head low, shaking as he held Vanellope against him. He felt ashamed, but he couldn't seem to gather words. It was she who spoke up for him: "Calhoun, don't shoot! He's okay!"

"He's a bug, kid!" Calhoun was coming closer, step-by-step. Turbo shifted backward slightly, pulling Vanellope with him.

The child held her ground even as she was dragged back. "Well, this is my palace and my kingdom and I order you to lower your weapon!" Vanellope flinched as Turbo's claws pinched her. She elbowed him hard in the side but he didn't feel it. "I'm not a hostage, okay?! You just scared him!"

_Scared!_ Turbo loosed his grip on her slightly. Yes, he was scared.

Calhoun regarded the girl with a long stare before she slowly lowered her weapon, cold eyes still trained on Turbo. "What exactly is the means of your granting immunity to so lowly a creature as a cybug, young miss?"

"He's still himself, Ms. Calhoun," Vanellope said firmly. Turbo was letting up is grip more now. "He's not dangerous. At least, not any more dangerous than he is normally."

"That's impossible," Calhoun snapped, stepping closer. "You'd have to have one hell of a stubborn personality to stay sentient after a bug's got you."

Vanellope rolled her eyes in a half-lidded gaze. "Sounds about right."

Turbo slowly released his hold on the child, still crouching low. "I'm not plotting any kind of invasion, alright?" he hissed. He was shaken by how frail his voice sounded. "I'm still more me than bug, and all I want is to get my old body back." Calhoun seemed unconvinced. He growled softly, a fearful grow.

From around the corner, Felix came running into sight, out of breath and waving his arms. "Tamora, please—listen—!"

Calhoun didn't turn to look at Felix, still keeping her eyes on Turbo. The bug growled under his breath. Just get out, he thought desperately, just go, just leave.

There was a tense silence, interrupted only by Felix's huffing as he came to stop beside Calhoun, catching his breath. Vanellope's gaze was hard and firm, as determined as stoic as the sergeant before her. "He's my responsibility, and you can't come into my game and hunt him."

"He's a threat to every other game in this arcade," Calhoun said firmly.

"He _can't_ leave," Felix managed breathlessly, looking up at her. "He's...a glitch. I t-told you that."

As if on cue, a red ripple of static ran down the length of Turbo's body, transferring to Vanellope as it reached his hands and giving her a faint glitch as well. She glanced at him, but he was still staring intently at Calhoun. Calhoun still didn't seem convinced, but she finally let her eyes slip from Turbo to Vanellope. "Kid, this is serious."

"Yeah, I noticed," Vanellope replied with a frown. "I know you're just doing what you think is right, Ms. Calhoun, but this _is_ my game. And Turbo's a part of it now. Cybug or not."

Turbo glanced at her briefly. It was the first time he'd ever heard it phrased like that, the first time he'd ever heard Vanellope (who in spite of his dislike for her, he still recognized as the powerhead of the game) say it. His eyes flickered back to Calhoun, but fear had been replaced with a sort of dull astonishment. He realized quite suddenly that he felt lightheaded.

"I still say you're playing with fire, kid," Calhoun said, finally glancing down at Felix who had recovered and was watching her anxiously. Vanellope perked when she heard Turbo's skittering behind her. She turned quickly and Calhoun reacted with instinctive reflexes, lifting her gun to aim it again at him. But Turbo wasn't advancing; he was stumbling back.

"Turbo?" Vanellope said quickly. Turbo's vision had begun swimming. He was trying desperately to stay on his feet, but a lightheadedness had come over him and without much ability to do otherwise, he found himself collapsing onto the floor of the hall. Vanellope perked as she realized for the first time the red puddle growing on the floor near his feet. "Ah!" she gasped suddenly, "you hit him?!"

"Thought I clipped him at least once," Calhoun said with a mild pride mixed with disinterest.

Felix hurried past her and up to Vanellope as the girl quickly went to Turbo's side. His insectile legs were twitching a bit and to the two's surprise he was still vaguely conscious, partly attempting to scramble up off the floor but to no avail. "Where's he bleeding from?" Vanellope asked, ducking under a leg as it poked in her direction.

Felix had his hammer at the ready, and he crept around Turbo's side until he found the wound in the armor of his back. A plate of the cybug's armor was missing, the skin underneath seared and raw. He grimaced, feeling a bit sick for a moment before he reached forward and anxiously touched it with his hammer. The wound repaired with the characteristic ding and Turbo's armor was back in place, glitching a little as the pixels settled. "Fixed it," he murmured.

Turbo's vision cleared, but he still felt rather out-of-sorts. At least he stopped his scrambling and lay still, feeling helpless and vague. Felix and Vanellope stepped around to his head, both of them leaning down over him with concern. "You okay, friend?" Felix asked softly.

Turbo glanced up at him. He grunted a little with discomfort still, digging his claws into the candy floor. "Get your trigger-happy wife out of here, Fix-It..."

Felix blinked, momentarily insulted, but all things considered, he supposed Turbo had that right. He straightened up and looked at Vanellope, who had smiled faintly to see that Turbo was alright. "Word is spreading around the arcade pretty quickly," Felix said softly.

Vanellope glanced up at him, her smile fading. She sighed softly. Other characters would be trying to get in, trying to get at him. "I'll deal with it," he said softly. She turned back to Turbo, sighing, "Thanks, Felix."

She looked back down at Turbo, who was taking slow, deep breaths and trying to even out his heartbeat. He wanted to get up, wanted to be back on his feet and in control, but he chose to lie still anyway. For once he decided to put his overall good above his pride. Besides, a part of him was concerned that he would simply topple back over if he tried to get up. His head was still spinning. He glanced up at Vanellope rather helplessly, glowering.

"Thanks for using me as a shield," she said, raising her brows.

"Apparently I was wrong," he muttered, somewhat labored, "you _are_ good for something after all."

"Ha, ha," she said blandly, hunkering down and leaning her cheek against her fist. "You want me to get the twins?"

He stared at her. This was becoming too commonplace, too casual, the way she addressed him. Like they were friends, mod forbid. But he couldn't hate her. In spite of everything, she had done more for him than he could ever ask of anyone. Maybe it was all for the sake of the twins, and most of it was done out of the naiivity of a child, but still.

"Yeah," he finally muttered, "thanks."

Vanellope glanced over her shoulder. Felix and Calhoun were still in the hall although they were on the way out, Calhoun glancing suspiciously over her shoulder. "Just wait til they're gone," she murmured, not about to leave him lying their alone with Calhoun still in the hall.

Turbo stared up at her still. Stupid glitch...How did she know exactly what he was thinking, exactly what he wanted? He breathed out shakily, speaking with mild disorientation, "Where, ah...where are they?"

"Mm?" she looked back at him. "Oh, the twins? Rainbow Road, I think. Gloyd and Rancis asked them to race."

"Did they...?" Turbo murmured. So the twins had been invited to race by the other racers. And Gloyd and Rancis, no less. He hadn't expected Rancis to be among the first to accept the twins. After all these years, those racers were still full of surprises.

Vanellope smiled quietly. "They're coming around, the racers. I mean, most of them are still pretty unsure about you—and Taffyta, well she just plain hates you—but, they're getting used to the twins. They almost beat me the other day, you know. Ned came pretty close."

Turbo perked, looking at her quickly, his eyes a bit hungry. "He did?"

She smirked faintly. "You should be proud of them."

* * *

Left alone in the palace hall, Turbo had slipped off into sleep before Vanellope brought the twins back to him. When they arrived in a flurry of excitement and demands of what happened to him, he was startled awake and found his head cradled in Ned's arms with Ted hunched over him, face pressed against his forehead. "I'm alright, I'm alright," he muttered groggily, blinking the sleep from his eyes as the twins withdrew to get a look at him.

"Vanellope said Calhoun shot you!" Ned exclaimed, still holding to Turbo's head gently.

"There's all this blood on the floor," Ted managed with agitation, his hands shaking a little in his lap.

"I'm alright now," Turbo assured them, shaking his head a little. "Just...resting."

Ted hummed softly, letting out a trembling breath. Then he suddenly leaned in and kissed the king's forehead, taking Turbo's face in his hands and kissing it again gratefully. The cybug still tugged free immediately and hissed at him, twisting his neck back. "Ted!"

"I'm so sorry!" Ted said quickly, his eyes suddenly welling with tears. The genuine look of concern on the other racer's face gave Turbo enough pause not to knock him away with his claws. "This is my fault," he blurted, "I-I should have been more careful..."

Turbo lifted a clawed hand shakily. "Ted..."

Ted closed his eyes tightly as tears began to spill down his cheeks. He fisted his hands and tried not to sob. "You could have been killed, Turbo, I'm so sorry..."

Turbo took a shaky breath before he reached out and wrapped his claws around Ted's shoulder, pulling the racer in against him and hugging him gently. With his other arm, he drew Ned into the embrace, holding the both of them and breathing in deeply as Ted tried and failed not to cry.

"I'm alright," Turbo managed with a tremble in his voice, "we're all...alright."


	5. Chapter 5 - Stir Crazy

_Author's Notes: So, this chapter is mostly fluff. Heck, it's all fluff. The plot is virtually at a standstill. But, I got to write some fun/cute interactions and I hope you'll enjoy. The story picks up again in the next chapter...I'm still astonished at the number of people who favorite and follow this story. Thank you, guys. 3 And thanks as always to Lava for editing. 3 _

* * *

Chapter Five – Stir Crazy

Turbo sat on the edge of the bed, staring out that same old window at the path that led away from the palace. Since there was no sense in hiding the cybug's existence any longer, Vanellope had let him run the roster on the back of her kart, and he had, with ease, returned once again to his old avatar. But there was less joy in it this time. Only a sort of dim relief.

Hero's Duty soldiers had accompanied Calhoun back to the game later that evening. By that point, Vanellope had hidden Turbo away where he couldn't be found, but he had heard about the visit nonetheless. He was a threat, they proposed, a bigger threat than ever. If he found any way, coding or otherwise, to duplicate the cybug code, the whole arcade would be in danger, glitch or no. Vanellope had assured them he couldn't do that, but...well.

Turbo sighed weakly, leaning down over the green sour ball perched in his lap. His glitch rippled his coding apart and back together again, reforming in the image of King Candy. "Thowah Bill...I don't know what to do."

Sour Bill gazed up at the former monarch and frowned his usual, dull frown. "It would appear you don't have much of a choice, sir."

He groaned softly, leaning back until he flopped back onto the bed, pulling the startled green candy in against his chest. "Everyone used to love me," he murmured.

"Your subjects, sir?" Sour Bill droned.

Turbo closed his eyes, grimacing. "No, before that—back in Turbo Time. This whole arcade loved me!"

Sour Bill was silent for a moment before he asked, dully, "Did they really love you, sir?"

Turbo opened his eyes. The glitch rattled his pixels apart again, leaving Turbo himself lying there, yellow eyes blinking up at the ceiling. "...what is that supposed to mean?"

Sour Bill rolled his eyes to the side, glancing at the far wall. "I think perhaps you...romanticize your past."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You sugar coat it, sir."

"Sugar coat..."

"You make it seem quite a bit better than I suspect it really was."

Turbo continued to stare at the ceiling, breathing in and out slowly, his arms still hugged around his old assistant. "Turbo Time was the most popular game in this arcade..."

"I don't doubt that, sir," Sour Bill sighed, "but what I am suggesting, is that while the rest of this arcade may have had respect for you, or for your racing, it's quite possible that those people never really _loved_ you."

Turbo lowered his gaze slowly as he considered this, his brows sinking over his eyes.

"Perhaps," Sour Bill continued, knowing he was treading on dangerous ground, "that is why you put so much effort into gaining the affection of your subjects here in Sugar Rush..."

Turbo felt his muscles tense. He sat up abruptly, glitching with the movement back into King Candy's visage. "What are you saying?!"

"Only that-" Sour Bill's limbs flailed momentarily as Turbo abruptly turned him to face him. The sour ball looked up at his king disapprovingly. "-it is possible that no one has ever really 'loved you' the way you seem to recall."

Turbo's glitch flickered along his neck, but King Candy's face remained in place. "Well the players have always loved me!"

"Players are different," Sour Bill droned. "They only see you from beyond the glass."

Turbo faltered a little, gritting his teeth. "My subjects then!"

Sour Bill glanced aside silently.

Turbo's eyes flickered yellow inside King Candy's face. He lowered his chin sharply, seeming at a loss for words, his brows low and cheeks flushed with anger. "Then no one has...ever loved me."

Sour Bill hummed quietly. "The twins, sir."

Turbo blinked down at him. He glitched again, but King Candy still remained dominant. He blushed, delayed, looking aside. "Well those two," he muttered dismissively, "are different..." He waved a hand, curling his fingers upward. "The problem here is the arcade. I suppose getting them to love me is not, nor...has ever been an option." He chuckled a bit anxiously, a bit sadly. "If only I could get them to stop hating me..."

"And fearing you."

"Well, now," he purred, standing, "as the saying goes, it is always better to be feared than loved, anyway..." He chuckled, leaning down to set the candy down on the floor. Sour Bill looked up at him tentatively.

"Sir?"

Turbo brushed off his vest with the backs of his hands, then straightened his coat, glancing toward the window again thoughtfully. "I'm sick of other people fighting my battles for me..." He sighed, brushing a hand over his forehead as he glitched again, this time the pixels resettling in Turbo's old avatar. He lowered his hand from his helmet, biting on his thumbnail lightly. "If this arcade's got a problem with me, I'll take it up with them myself."

* * *

"No, absolutely not."

Turbo clenched his fists, glaring at Vanellope as she sat upon his—her—throne, hands on her knees, looking at him solemnly. "Why the hell not?!"

"Because there's enough hotheads in the arcade without you getting involved," she muttered. "What good do you think it's gonna do for you to talk to them?"

"I don't know!" Turbo yelled, throwing out his hands, "but I'm sick of you and those twins taking the brunt of this! The arcade is upset about _me_!"

Vanellope sighed loudly, rolling her eyes and standing up. She gestures outwards, speaking dramatically, "And you think talking to them is really gonna help your case? What if you go off on one of your rants about how this game belongs to you and-"

"It does belong to me!" he yelled suddenly, his entire visage having taken on King Candy's avatar. It glitched away with a ripple, leaving Turbo standing there, looking frustrated and troubled.

"I'm getting used to it," Vanellope said, frowning at him seriously. "But the rest of this arcade hears you say something like that and it's all over. Nobody's ever gonna trust a guy who's still trying to justify his crimes." Turbo lowered his eyes. His fists were still clenched at his sides. "Stay out of sight, try and relax. I'm taking care of this."

He cursed under his breath and turned stiffly, stalking to the door.

* * *

Turbo lowered himself into the hot chocolate bath with a sigh. It had been a long time since he had enjoyed the pleasure of a hot bath. He was extremely grateful to Sour Bill for having suggested it as he struggled and failed to take Vanellope's orders to relax. He sat up with his elbows on either side of the tub, shifting himself around in the warm liquid. With Vanellope's permission, he'd been allowed to use the royal bath, where he had long enjoyed these soaks at the end of a day of racing. It was a large, elegant room, high-ceilinged, with a fancy claw-foot tub made of porceline—one of the few non-candy items in Sugar Rush—to hold hot cocoa that was pumped straight from a faucet connected to springs at the back of the palace.

A large, elegant window opened onto a balcony that looked out over the expanse of Sugar Rush. From the tub, he couldn't quite see much of the landscape, just a few cresting mountaintops and the vibrant-colored sky. He found that the soak made him forget most of his troubles, as it always had. Considering briefly, he glitched over to King Candy, rippling the water as his pixels disconnected and reconnected in rapid succession. Immediately, a light smile tugged at his lips as he gazed out the window, feeling for a moment like the old days. There was a creak at the door and he glitched back quickly.

Ned stood, peeking around the edge of the door in at him. Turbo grimaced and sunk a bit lower into the liquid. "What?"

"Sour Bill said you were in here," Ned said quietly, then, with hesitation, he stepped in and closed the door behind him.

Turbo frowned deeply. "Yes, and I want to be left alone if you don't mind."

Apparently Ned did mind, because he crossed the room in spite of Turbo's 'hint.' Turbo groaned softly and sunk low in the tub, his chin just touching the surface of the hot cocoa. Ned was a bit awestruck by the room itself, glancing up and around as he stepped over to the bath. "There sure are some fancy rooms here," he murmured.

"Yes," was all Turbo muttered, watching him. Ned eventually looked down at him and lowered himself to kneel at the side of the tub. Turbo watched him from the corner of his eye. "Where's Ted?"

"Reading," Ned murmured, "he said he wanted to be left alone. I didn't have anybody to talk to." He reached an arm over the side of the tub and put his hand in the liquid. Turbo gave a start. "What is this?"

"It's hot chocolate," Turbo snapped, "get your hand out!" Ned withdrew his hand obediently and looked at Turbo a bit expectantly. The racer glowered. "Can't you find something to occupy yourself with? Why've you got to bother me just because Ted's doing something?"

Ned stared at him, then he leaned forward, crossing his arms on the edge of the tub and setting his chin on them lightly. "Turbo..."

Turbo had pushed himself up against the other side of the tub and was staring at Ned with frustration. He knew there was going to be no getting rid of him now. "What do you want, Ned?" he asked with exasperation.

Ned gazed past Turbo a bit forlornly, blinking slowly. "Do you think Vanellope will ever be able to make us a part of this game?"

Turbo frowned quietly. "Well, I...think she'll sure as hell try. I don't know how."

Ned glanced at him, drawing his shoulders up slightly. "I miss...really racing. You know, when a player is playing. Don't you miss being played?"

Turbo went quiet, watching Ned, who glanced a bit gropingly around the room before his gaze returned to Turbo. "Yeah I...do," Turbo said quietly. That thought had been a significant part of the obsession that drove him to madness. Ned, however, didn't seem to consider this. He just lowered his eyes and sighed.

"I _am_ glad we have you back, though," he said finally. He glanced up and smiled a little.

Turbo had sunk just to his lower lip in the bath. He nodded a bit faintly, blushing lightly. "Y-yeah, I'm...glad to have you back too." He swallowed then cleared his throat softly. "H-hey, can you hand me a towel?" He reached hand out of the bath to point toward a stack set on a fancy-looking shelf near the wall.

Ned perked and turned, rising quickly and going to fetch one. He carried a couple back to Turbo, holding them out to him. Turbo snatched one at the edge of the tub and let the other fall to the floor. Ned smiled lightly and stepped around the tub, going over to the window quietly. Turbo watched him, hesitating before he rose out of the chocolate and wrapped one of the towels around his shoulders. They were huge towels, more like blankets really, and the single one engulfed him in soft candy. He shifting about for a moment to dry himself. Then he hesitantly stepped around the bath and up beside Ned, who glanced at him briefly.

"I like it here," Ned said softly.

"Yeah," Turbo said quietly, "me too."

Ned hesitated, then reached out a hand and scruffed up Turbo's wet hair. Turbo ducked away quickly, swatting at him. Ned only smiled. Turbo tugged at the towel wrapped around his shoulders, then glanced around the room behind him. "...where are my clothes?"

Ned looked at him, then around the room curiously. "I thought they were by the door when I came in."

Turbo hesitated, then a glare descended on his face. "What did you say Ted was doing?"

"Reading?"

"Reading my ass." Turbo hurried over to the door, opening it just enough to lean out and look down the hall. There was no sign of Ted. He slammed the door again quickly. "Damn that Ted!"

Ned had stepped up beside him, his hands behind his back. "I suppose I should have suspected that."

Turbo shot him a glare, then gave him a quick once-over with his eyes. "Give me your jumpsuit."

Ned perked, then frowned at him. "It won't fit you."

"Just give it to me!" Turbo barked, snatching at him.

Ned quickly stepped away. "No! I'll be cold!"

"If you don't give it, you're gonna be dead!" Turbo snapped.

They spent a little while like that, Turbo lunging at him and Ned deftly jumping aside, until eventually Turbo became frustrated enough to give up and consider other options. "I've got the extra set of King Candy clothes back in my room," he muttered. "Wait!" He turned and hurried over to a large peppermint bark door at the left hand of the room. He pulled it open and began to dig through some things at the bottom. Ned stepped quietly over and leaned over him to look.

"Ah hah!" Turbo tugged out a box and pulled off the lid. Inside, a somewhat wrinkled copy of King Candy's clothes was messily folded up. "I knew I had a few other extras."

He pulled the clothes out and dusted them off, giving them a few shakes. Ned watched him curiously. "Turbo..."

"What?" Turbo grumbled, still not pleased with either of the twins.

"If you glitched to King Candy right now...what would happen? Would your clothes, I mean the ones that Ted's got, would they change?"

Turbo blinked thoughtfully. "I've...got no idea," he murmured, considering that when he had glitched to King Candy in the bath, he had still been as naked as before, but he didn't look at his clothes to see if anything had happened to them. Ned shrugged, turning his back to Turbo. Turbo glanced after him, wondering this information could be of any use to him, then he quickly began to dress in the old clothes.

* * *

Turbo and Ned crept into the hall. After changing into King Candy's clothes, he reluctantly glitched over to the King's form to avoid the acute discomfort of being himself in the King's clothing. Still, he knew he was going to stir up trouble wearing King Candy's face in the palace, particularly if Vanellope were to catch them. But being King Candy had him feeling a might bit more confident.

"Alright," he said, holding out his hand to touch Ned's arm. "If you were that mischievous brother of yours, where would you go?"

"If I had your clothes?" Ned asked, admittedly a bit pleased that Turbo had touched him by choice, although he suspected it was King Candy's nature that did it. "I'd probably try to burn them." Turbo looked up in alarm. "Or...hide them."

Turbo chuckled anxiously, pressing his fingertips together, "Well, let's hope for the latter, shall we...? But where to even begin?" He began walking, glancing about somewhat nervously for servants and guards. Ned tagged along close at his side.

* * *

Vanellope stepped up to the door of her room, a bit surprised to hear the sound of voices from within. With a raised brow, she turned the handle and opened the door, blinking in at the three racers fighting one another on top of her bed. She wasn't sure where her confusion ought to begin, with why they were in the bed, why they were fighting, or why Turbo was dressed in King Candy's clothes. Ted was crouched over him, holding his helmet up out of Turbo's reach as Ned ruffled the very unhappy racer's hair with both hands.

"Damn you idiots, cut it out!" he was shouting, flailing about and trying in vain to reach his prized helmet.

"Whoops," Ted said tossing it aside and letting it roll away with a clunk.

"I'll kill you both!" Turbo yelped as Ned hunched over him, pressing his forehead to Turbo's with a grin. Turbo blushed deeply and stopped thrashing.

Ted leaned down over him, smiling slyly. "Quite the position we've got you in, wouldn't you say?" Turbo sucked in a breath, his face deep red as Ted craned down close to him.

Vanellope cleared her throat loudly and all three quickly looked in her direction. "...evening, boys."

"Get the hell off of me!" Turbo yelped loudly.

Ted climbed off with a laugh and Ned reluctantly let him up with one last scruff of his hair. Turbo bolted upright immediately and scrambled away from the two of them, nearly falling off the other side of the bed.

Vanellope picked up Turbo's helmet as she stepped over, raising a brow at Ted, who was smiling at her coolly. "Sounds like you all have been enjoying yourselves."

"Well two of us have been," Ted commented, glancing at Ned, then back at Turbo, who was looking from one to the other with a red face. Ted took the helmet from Vanellope and held it out to Turbo. "King Turbug, you want your helmet back?"

Turbo sneered, reaching out and snatching it quickly. "Quit calling me that, I'm not a bug." He pulled the helmet on quickly, glad at least to have removed the object of the twins' obsession from sight.

"Look, I've got like a billion more questions," Vanellope said, "but right now, I'd really like to go to bed if you all wouldn't mind leaving."

"Not at all!" Ted said, standing. Ned hopped up as well.

Turbo stared at the two of them bitterly, still not moving. "Where are my clothes?"

"I don't know, Turbug," Ted said.

"You lying bastard."

Ted grinned. Vanellope raised a brow. "He stole your clothes?"

"Why the hell do you think I'm dressed like King Candy?!" he snapped at her.

She only stared at him, shrugging. "I've learned to stop asking why you do anything."

Turbo glowered. He scrambled off the bed awkwardly, moving past her quickly and stalking past the twins as well. Ned quickly reached for him, trying to catch the racer's hand, who shook it free in a rage. "Stop it, Ned!"

Ted laughed as he followed the other two, though he paused in the doorway when Vanellope called out to him. "Yeah?" he asked, glancing back with one of his winning smiles. To his surprise, Vanellope was looking at him quite seriously. He blinked at her, his smile fading.

Vanellope slipped her hands in her hoodie pocket, leaning forward slightly. "Ted, I haven't really spoken to you since that night you ran off to Tapper's..."

Ted perked, then lowered his eyes quickly, shifting his weight as he shoved his hands in his own pockets. "Oh, ah, about that. I am sorry for worrying you."

"And?"

He lifted his eyes to her, blinking. "Ah...a-and about not telling you the more...gritty details of my life." He smiled weakly. "Really, I didn't mean you any harm...You can understand why I wouldn't want to admit all that to you though, right?"

Vanellope hummed quietly. Her gaze was still serious. Ted's smile faded once again. It was funny how that child had such an effect on people. "Ted," she said sharply, "is there anything else you might be keeping from me?"

Ted perked, blinking at her. "Why do you ask that?"

"Just answer me."

He hesitated a moment and his brows lowered over his eyes. "No," he muttered, "I'm not."

Vanellope regarded him quietly, then she nodded and glanced aside. "Alright, then. Give Turbo his clothes back, would you?"

Ted stared at the child a moment, then he slowly turned, pausing there in the doorway, before he stepped out.


	6. Chapter 6 - Omitted Truths

_Author's Notes: In which I finally get around to talking about the past...I swear to you all I will finish this fic if it kills me. Don't lose faith, guys. As always, a huge thanks to my readers, reviewers, and editor! This one gets a bit feelsy, I suppose. Also it's _really_ long. Heh. Enjoy!_

* * *

Chapter Six - Omitted Truth

Turbo had continued to abide Vanellope's advice. And over the course of another week of excruciating boredom and frustration, Vanellope seemed to be winning people over to his cause yet again. He couldn't leave Sugar Rush. Although that knowledge was one of his biggest frustrations, it was one of her greatest arguments that his fate be left to her. Once people finally began to accept that the threat of a cybug invasion was almost nil, the threat of Turbo in and of himself was growing increasingly less worrisome. People were relaxing, to some extent. The twins were racing again with the Sugar Rushers after hours. A bit tentatively, Vanellope allowed Turbo back onto the track as well, though only with herself and the twins. She couldn't deny that it pleased her to see the three of them happy. It took her mind off the fact that she still had no idea what to do with the situation.

Turbo couldn't be locked up, she knew that much. She wouldn't have it. Nor did she want him somehow excommunicated from the arcade. Still, she felt at least that Turbo deserved some sort of justice. It was doing neither Turbo nor the arcade any good for him to be lying around in Sugar Rush, locked in a palace room, racing with the twins only when the mood stuck her to allow it.

She was walking ahead of him down the palace halls, brushing her fingers through her tangled hair. She had beat him, as usual, on the track. Yet he was angrier than usual, perhaps because Ned had beat him too. Out of practice, he was complaining all the way back to the castle. Out of practice, because he was locked up to rot every other moment of the day.

"You don't get 'out of practice' that fast, Turbo," she muttered at him. "It's only been a week or two."

"Well that glitch of yours is cheating!" he snapping, his fists clenched at his sides. His own glitch was acting up, flickering King Candy's visage in and out.

The president waved a hand dismissively. "I didn't even use my glitch today, I beat you fair and square. And for the record, you've got no right to talk about 'cheating,' jerkface."

Turbo lowered his eyes to the floor, frustrated and angry. It was bad enough to be beaten by Vanellope, but now Ned too! And dammit, the only reason he'd beat Ted was because that idiot had been holding back ever since his drunken ramblings got Turbo shot! He pressed his hands to his face in frustration, glitching over into King Candy mid-step.

"Let me keep racing!" he barked.

Vanellope stopped walking at the shift in his voice. She glanced over her shoulder to face the monarch behind her. King Candy lowered his hands and glared at her, trembling slightly.

"I shouldn't have to get permission from you, it's my right to race here, I'm a member of this game-!" His avatar flickered and glitched back into Turbo with a red glowing ripple. "You said that yourself!" He clenched his fists, yellow eyes a mix of defiance and desperation. "Keeping me from racing...is as bad as keeping me locked up. I _need_ to race, Vanellope, this is taking too long..."

She gave him a long even look. She was about to speak when a sound behind her caught her interest. She turned as the noise of someone yelling echoed in the castle hall. Coming from the other direction, Rex, followed by a rather frantic Fix-It, Jr., was stalking toward them, cursing.

"Where is he?!" the racer barked as he approached. Vanellope was already shifting toward him, her three-foot form authoritative and defiant as always. Turbo stepped up beside her slowly, ready to meet his attacker, even if it did mean another bloody lip and a few more bruises. He was in no mood for Rex today...

"Rex," Vanellope said stiffly, "you're not supposed to be here."

Felix managed to catch up to Rex, looking as helpless as he did chasing his wife into the game. "I tried to stop him, Miss Vanell-"

"Where is he?!" the racer barked again, towering over her and Turbo both as he came to stand before them.

Turbo clenched his hands tightly at his sides. "I'm right here, you idiot!"

"I'm not looking for you!" Rex snapped, his eyes flashing as he shifted his attention onto Turbo. "That bastard Ted, where is he?!"

"Not important," Vanellope cut in before Turbo could get started yelling. "You're not supposed to be here, Rex, I asked you to keep your distance. If I need to get Surge to ban you, I'll do it."

Rex snorted loudly as his eyes shifted back to Vanellope. "...that bastard jacked up my car."

"Your _car_?" Turbo scoffed.

Rex shot him a quick sharp look. "I've got a car over in another game, idiot, and Ted was in there last night and keyed up the whole side of it."

"Why would Ted do that?" Turbo muttered skeptically.

"Who even cares?" Vanellope broke in. "Your car will regenerate. I want you out, Rex!"

The larger racer, however, hadn't shifted his attention off of Turbo. "Are you serious? That idiot Ted screws with me and the rest of the arcade all the time."

Turbo narrowed his eyes on Rex. "I _know _Ted, he isn't like that-"

"Ha!" Rex gave a sharp laugh and shook his head, a wide grin on his broad face. "You're kidding yourself...I don't think you realize at all, those twins really aren't the little angels you left behind, Turbo. Tell me, tell me—I'm terribly curious. You must have asked about what happened to those other two racers from your game, right? That pathetic one who never talked and the big bastard with the broken nose."

Turbo's hands trembled as he clenched them tighter, his knuckles white. His glitch was acting up messily.

Rex only sneered at him, surprised not to get a rise out of him yet. "Well, of course, that idiot who stayed behind and got himself unplugged is a story in its own...But Nitrus. Tell me, did Ted go and explain what exactly happened to Nitrus?"

Turbo stared at him, his eyes hot. "He killed himself. Ran himself off the road in some other game."

"Yeah," Rex purred, "I'm sure Ted would like you to think that."

Vanellope glanced at Turbo quickly and then back to Rex, her eyes darting. Turbo seemed incapable of forming words, so she answered for him, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Rex sneered, turning up his chin with a chuckle. "Ted's been denying it all these years...but this arcade knows better. It was Ted who ran Nitrus off the road."

A heavy, throbbing silence fell on the room. Turbo couldn't seem to breathe. All he could hear was his heart pounding in his ears. His voice broke into the silence so suddenly it startled even him. "_You're a goddamn liar_!"

"Am I?" Rex murmured, gesturing with one hand to Felix beside him. Turbo's eyes shifted to the handyman sharply.

Felix clutched at his hat, looking downward as all eyes fell on him. "...Although I have never really believed such gossip myself...it is the general opinion of the arcade that Ted was responsible for Nitrus' death. But-!"

"He was _with him_ when he was killed," Rex broke in, giving Turbo the most amused smile he had had in years. "Bet he never mentioned _that _to you, did he? He was the only one with him, out on the track. They left together, but Ted came back alone. Went straight to Tappers and got himself so drunk off his ass he could barely see straight. He was overheard _confessing_ to Tapper. 'Course Tapper doesn't gossip, wouldn't say a word, but...people heard him."

Turbo was trembling slightly now. His eyes shifted to Felix, who had hung his head, still wringing that hat with discomfort. He was vaguely aware that Vanellope yelled at Rex to leave once again and that the racer relented with an insult he didn't quite translate in his head. He pressed a hand over his face, his heart pounding. This was a lie, a blatant lie.

He turned suddenly and began to stride away. Vanellope called something at him but he didn't hear. He just kept walking. He had to get to Ted. He had to talk to him.

* * *

Ted leaned back on the side of his kart, smiling down at the two boys in front of him. "Well back then we didn't have a whole lot in the way of graphics and all..." He knelt down to be at their level as Rancis and Gloyd continued to look at him eagerly.

"So you raced the _same_ track all day?" Rancis asked with a grimace. "That must have been terribly boring."

Ted smiled softly. "It was all we knew." He shrugged, extending his hands outward. "You kids don't know how great you've got it! We couldn't even dream of a game like this."

Gloyd looked at his comrade and back at Ted. "What was it like?" he asked, his voice dipping low. "Getting unplugged?" Rancis gave him a quick elbow and Gloyd grimaced but continued to watch Ted for an answer.

The grey-faced racer blinked at him slowly, then he lowered his gaze and put his hands on his knees. "It was...scary, I admit. We left and stood outside the terminal just...waiting. There was a big sound, like...I don't know how to describe it. Like all the air getting sucked out of a room at once. And then there was a flicker of light, and everything just sort of faded away...You could feel it go, like a sort of chill in the air."

The two stared at him, silent for a moment. He spoke with a sort of aged acceptance, a wound of a memory long-since healed and let go of. The two boys were admittedly captivated.

Unable to contain himself, Rancis blurted unflattering, "We heard one of your brothers got trapped inside and tried to escape and his code got ripped apart in the terminal."

Ted looked up quickly, blinking. "A-ah, no, Dash...chose to stay behind."

"Why would he do that?" Gloyd asked, tilting his head. "Didn't he know he was gonna die?"

"He knew," Ted mused, "but he chose to stay behind."

"Why?" they both asked together.

Ted blinked at them before smiling, rubbing at the back of his neck. "To this day, I still don't think I really know."

The boys exchanged a quick glance and looked back at him again. "We also heard..."

Ted blinked at them expectantly, tilting his head.

Gloyd looked at Rancis once again before back at Ted, speaking softly, "We heard you..."

The trio glanced up at the sound of an engine cresting the hill nearby. King Candy's kart came into view with its grey-faced racer at the wheel. The two Sugar Rush racers turned quickly and headed for their own karts. "H-hey!" Ted called after them.

"We'll talk to you later!" Gloyd called, jumping into his kart and taking off with Rancis close behind him. Ted blinked after them, frowning a little before he turned toward Turbo's approaching kart.

The other racer pulled up near to him, hitting the brakes hard as he came to a stop. Ted could already tell from the look in Turbo's eyes that something was up, wrong. He took a step back and leaned on his own kart, watching with a faint grimace as the other race climbed out and came toward him. "And what's the matter with you?" Ted muttered.

Turbo locked eyes with him sharply, stalking forward. "What happened to Nitrus?!"

Ted's face blanched. He glanced aside, folding his arms slowly. "I told you what happened to Nitrus...He killed himself."

Turbo clenched his hands at his sides, his voice cracking and wavering with his glitch as he screamed, "Then why the hell does this arcade think you killed him?!"

Ted was silent. He stared away, a brief look of hurt crossing through his eyes, though it was quickly replaced with anger. He glanced back at Turbo slowly, his eyes cold. "Who told you that?"

"Rex!" Turbo snapped. "He came here looking for you!"

That look of hurt crossed through Ted's eyes again briefly. "And you _believed_ him?"

Turbo let out a shaky breath. "What really happened to Nitrus?"

Ted stared at him a moment before cursing loudly and looking aside. "I can't believe this! You actually believe him!"

Turbo stepped forward, raising his voice, "Just tell me what happened!"

"I told you already!"

"I want the whole story!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"Why not?!"

"Because I watched it happen, alright?!"

Ted shuddered slightly, closing his eyes tightly for a moment and turning away. "I was with him, and as much as I wish I hadn't, I watched him veer off the track and into that wall, and as much as I'd like to think it was an accident, I saw the look on his face when he did it and I know in my heart it wasn't!"

The two of them fell silent. Turbo stared up at Ted, not knowing what to say or to think about what he'd been told. He lowered his eyes slowly. A faint guilt sparked in him. Ted leaned on his kart, his back to Turbo, his eyes still shut. He had gripped the door of the kart so tightly his knuckles were whitening. "...I'm sorry," Ted murmured.

"Tell me," Turbo said, lifting his eyes. He gazed at the other racer sincerely. "Tell me what happened to Nitrus, _the truth_, Ted...I'm sick being lied to..."

Ted laughed softly, a bit weakly. "You're sick of being lied to?" He opened his eyes slowly. "That's funny..."

_"Ted,"_ Turbo said.

Ted's face saddened. He lowered his eyes again. "I never lied," he said gently. "I just didn't tell you the whole story...

"Tell it to me now," Turbo said evenly. "I want to know _why_ this arcade acts the way it does. It's not just me, it's you two. They hate you. I want to know why..."

Ted lifted his hands and rubbed them over his face slowly. "Alright, alright...Where to even begin..." He gave a weak, sad sort of laugh and lowered his hands slowly, turning around to face Turbo again slowly. "I guess...I'll just jump right in."

* * *

"The day after Turbo Time was unplugged...it was like we were in a whole different arcade. In a matter of hours, people had gone from being our friends to being these...distant, polite acquaintances. People weren't exactly rude, but they acted like they were walking on eggshells around us. Like we were suddenly dangerous or something. For his part, Nitrus was a raving mess. Without Dash, he just sort of...fell to pieces. We wanted to look out for him, but he would barely speak to us.

"It wasn't long before rumors started circulating. Instead of being artificially polite, people just started acting standoffish and...rude. We started to notice people whispering when we came into a game or walked through Game Central. Pretty...soon after that, people started talking openly about...you. And that's when things got bad.

"I was still trying to process how to feel. About the game, about Dash, about you...And all of a sudden, people started talking about what a sham Turbo Time had been, what a psychopath you were, how good it was you were gone. And I just...lost it.

"I started picking fights with anybody who mentioned your name. And I'm...heh. I'm me. So it wasn't like I had a whole lot going for me. The more frustrated I got, the more I picked fights, and the more I picked fights, the more I started drinking to forget the things I'd done and...The cycle never stopped. I just couldn't stand the thought of people forgetting you, forgetting what a racer you were, what an asset to the arcade you were!

"Between me acting like that and Nitrus acting like a psychopath, the arcade pretty quickly decided to disassociate itself with Turbo Time as a whole...At that point, I didn't much expect things could get much worse. And then one day when I got into an argument with Nitrus...he grabbed Ned. And...I finally realized just how far gone he really was. I panicked. I screamed at him to let him go and Nitrus just...He had him by the throat. And Ned was too small to do much of anything. I couldn't get through to him, I wailed on his arm and yelled and begged and...pleaded..I was terrified. And the whole time it was happening, no one else bothered to help. They walked by. They stared at us. I yelled till my throat was raw and then something seemed to snap in him. He let Ned go and just walked away. I barely caught my brother before he fell...

"I sat with Ned the rest of that day. He came to a few hours later. Big bruises on his neck...We didn't know what to do. We loved Nitrus. But he was slipping away...

"The next day, I found Nitrus sitting in Game Central with a faraway look in his eyes. I sat down beside him and he never even acknowledged me. Never looked up, never reacted at all. So I sat with him a while in silence. And then I had this idea...

"After Turbo Time and Road Blasters were unplugged, Litwak got a few new racing games to fill the gaps in the arcade...At first we didn't pay much mind to them, too busy with our own problems, but...I just thought, mod, wouldn't it do us good to get on the track again? Maybe even Nitrus would feel better if he got a chance to race again. So I asked if he would be up to it. And he agreed.

"When arcade hours ended, I ventured to one of the games and begged the title racers to let us do a few laps. They knew us by reputation, but I managed to convince them. All I wanted was to run a few laps...

"I rounded up Ned and Nitrus and we went to the game together. Nitrus didn't say much but I was so hopeful. The title characters loaned us three of their cars and wished us well.

"Being back on the track was...amazing. My heart was racing, I felt good, _really good, _for the first time since we were unplugged. I pulled out ahead with Nitrus behind me. I could tell Ned had fallen back, still getting used to the new car, but I just...lay down on the gas. Wanted to go fast, fly around the track, like the old days.

"I remember...Coming around a bend. And thinking. This is where he'll do it. If he's going to overtake me, this is where he'll do it.

"I twisted my head around to look back at him. And I just...felt like my heart stopped.

"I saw the look in his eyes when he jarred the wheel to the left. The desperate, painful, hollow look in his eyes when he went careening toward that wall. And...in that moment, I realized, knew..._exactly_ how he felt. And it...terrified me.

"The car exploded in pixels behind me. I hit the brakes as fast as I could and stumbled out. I ran to the wall as the car regenerated...but when I got there it was empty. I felt like I could hardly breathe, I just...stared in at the empty seat and wanted to scream. Ned came around the bend and I couldn't bear to face him. I ran back to my car and took off before he could get to me. I drove straight back to the terminal and left without a word. Went straight to Tappers. Drank myself sick before I could even process what had happened.

"I woke up back in Game Central...hungover and...hurting. Like there was a deep, empty hole in my chest. Ned was with me...But for once in my life, I just...didn't even want him around. He never said anything. Just sat there, with his eyes on the ground. I felt well enough to get up I headed back for Tappers...and Surge stopped me at the gate. He said I was banned. Heh. Banned...I demanded to know why. And he said...in light of the rumors regarding my involvement in my gamemate's death...I was banned from all games until further notice.

"I didn't know what to do. I fell apart. I didn't want Ned, I didn't want anybody. I felt empty inside, like any chance I was clinging to that I might be alright was ripped away from me. I...wanted to give up. And knowing I was too much a coward to take my own life, I started picking fights I knew I'd lose. I got desperate. I just kept hoping, maybe I could get someone mad enough, maybe Rex, to just...finish me off...but no one ever did."

* * *

_Twenty-Some Years Ago_

Ned sat next to his brother and Ted leaned over on him weakly, sobbing a bit brokenly. Without a word, Ned lay his arm gently around his twin and held him, breathing out quietly as they sat, side-by-side on that bench in Game Central Station, while people who once smiled at them now glanced their way with suspicious and disgusted expressions.

"I can't do this any more," Ted finally whimpered, clutching at Ned's jumpsuit with one shaking hand. "I can't stand it, I-I don't know what to do..."

"Don't say that," Ned murmured, his voice low but firm, "You've got me, Ted, we can do this..."

Ted sobbed again brokenly, shaking his head weakly. "I can't, Ned...d-dammit, Nitrus had the right idea, there's no point any more..."

Ned perked, his blinking rapidly, the feeling of tears welling in them. He pulled away from Ted suddenly and his brother lifted his head, looking at him with a mild start. "Ted," Ned managed, his voice breaking slightly, "d-do you mean that?"

Ted looked at him wearily before he lowered his eyes, red and wet with tears. "N-ned, I...I give up...I just want someone to finish me off..."

Ned felt himself trembling all over. He stood, suddenly, his fists clenched at his sides. "No!" Ted looked up at him quickly, blinking his watery eyes. He'd never heard Ned raise his voice ever, not in private and certainly never in public. Ned was shaking but he stared down at Ted with sharp, determined eyes. "You can't give up that easily, I won't let you!"

"Ned..."

"You've got to keep going!" Ned pleaded, shaking his head. "I'm here _with_ you, you can't give up yet...!"

Ted stared up at him, shaking his head faintly. "H...How did you get to be so brave, Ned...? I-I mean, hell...Aren't you scared, aren't you terrified?"

Ned looked back at him, seeming almost astonished that he would be asked such a thing. "Of course I'm scared!" he cried. "I've never been this scared before!" He bit his lip, hesitating before he lowered his voice, speaking softly, and somewhat brokenly, "But this is our life now. So we either...give up, like Nitrus, or we keep moving forward. I'm not ready to give up yet, Ted. So please don't leave me." He reached over and placed his hand on his brother's, squeezing gently. "I know it's gonna be hard and I know it's never gonna be any easier, but I'm not ready to give up. Ted, please. I don't wanna do this alone...but I will if I have to."

Ted blinked at him slowly, his red eyes wide and thoughtful. Ned lowered his own eyes slowly, squeezing Ted's hand tighter still.

"If you...really want to give up, if you want to throw in the towel, I can't stop you...I can try, but I know in the end you'll do what you want. And if that happens, I'm...I'm still going to carry on. But I'm asking you to consider staying, to see this through with me, because I want you here with me, I want you by my side, T-ted you're my brother and you're all I've got left, and I-"

Ned perked as Ted threw his arms around him, squeezing his brother tightly in against him. After a moment, Ned returned the embrace, finally breaking down into tears himself.

"I'm so sorry," Ted choked, squeezing Ned against him. "I-I just don't know what to do, I'm hurt and I'm scared and I'm furious and I don't know how you do it, Ned, you're braver than I could ever be..."

* * *

Ted kept his eyes on the ground as the memory faded like a dream. He was still gripping the side of the kart beside him, but loosely now, his hands trembling slightly. "Turbo...I never wanted you to know I fell apart. That's why I didn't tell you. I never wanted you to see me like that. If not for Ned, I...probably wouldn't be here today..."

Turbo stared down at his feet. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to cry and scream and hug the other racer and punch him all at the same time. It made sense then, he thought raggedly. It made sense, the way the arcade hated them. They had made Ted into an effigy of Turbo. They needed someone to blame, and with him 'dead,' they found someone else to attack...

"You've...got every right to hate me," Turbo said through grit teeth. "You always did, even then, Ted. I know we're family, I know you're an idiot, but why?" He lifted his eyes slowly, damp with frustrated, bitter tears. "I put you through hell, why don't you hate me?"

Ted laughed softly, rubbing at the tears in his eyes with the back of his hand. "I don't know," he managed weakly. "I guess I spent so long sticking up for you, I never had the time to hate you myself..."


	7. Chapter 7 - Devious Behavior

_Author's Notes: Attempting to not go more than two weeks without an update! Here you go, readers-some plot! Thanks always to Lava who edited the chapter and came up with the term "coded-being" for me. We're getting to the climax of the fic very shortly here. To everyone who is still reading, I thank you for hanging in there as the updates have slowed down. :) I promise not to abandon this fic. You all mean too much to me._

* * *

Chapter Seven - Devious Behavior

Turbo was sitting on the hood of his kart out in one of the trackless valleys between the mounds of chocolate hills. Vanellope had refused to let him go out on his own after he'd charged off out of the castle when Rex had upset him. Demanding that he be allowed out to get some air, Vanellope relented on the condition that Sour Bill accompany him. Sour Bill himself was seated in the kart, having dozed off shortly after Turbo had parked. An excellent chaperone, the exact kind Turbo liked to have. Not that he was exactly planning to do anything. Or that he suspected Sour Bill would or could actually stop him if he did.

He sighed tiredly, rubbing his hands on his forehead. He had begun to lose sleep and the hours awake were beginning to take their toll. Every night now, it seemed, he lay awake, sandwiched between the twins, staring at the ceiling above him. He felt like he was back in the early days of coming to Sugar Rush, when paranoia kept him awake for he feared his disguise crumbling in his sleep. Now his 'disguise' shifted on and off at will. He would slip into sleep as Turbo and awake as a startled King Candy. Without being able to focus on the shift, he was almost always left scattered and panicky when he awoke. And when he finally placed himself, he would lie there and worry.

Worry, no longer about himself, but about the twins.

He worried that they were fighting his battles, worried about the way the arcade had stigmatized them, worried about the way their problems kept seeming to get worse, worried that Ted was reckless and stupid like himself and Ned was meek and quiet and an easy target...

He worried every night when he lay there, the former King of Sugar Rush, with two 8-bit racers snuggled up on either side of him. A lot had changed in the past few weeks, he thought bitterly.

He closed his tired eyes, leaning back on the kart as he lowered his hands to his sides. He had lain awake again the past night. A few minutes sleep here and there had left him frazzled and a bit stir crazy. The twins had gone to Game Central when arcade hours ended, wanting to visit Fix-It about something or other. He was sure they had other reasons as well. Unable to stand pacing in their room by himself, he had taken his kart to an area of the game that put the castle, and the grandstand, out of sight and somewhat out of mind. Even now, though, as he sat, staring down at his feet and trying to think of something else, he found he could think of nothing but the twins.

* * *

It had been a quiet afternoon at Tapper's, much to the old barkeep's pleasure. He was a quiet man, slow and easy in his discourse. He was proud of his game in the way that every character is proud of his game, but for Tapper, there was a special joy in the management of his tavern. He was a host to near every other cabinet in the arcade. And he prided himself on the owning of an establishment that welcomed the likes of every character to travel the terminals of Game Central Station, even, in some cases, the downtrodden and unwanted. The unplugged.

He loved those racers, those dear boys who'd survived Turbo Time's unplugging. But they were a constant thorn in his side. And ever since news of Turbo's survival in Sugar Rush had reached his game, it seemed like there would never be peace in his tavern again. He loved those racers, he did dearly. But he was not fond of disruption in his game. And he was weary of picking up after the scuffles.

And today things had finally settled back down. His patrons were drinking, talking, some singing. So it was with great frustration that he listened to the sound of Ted's voice, raising in volume, as he served a glass of frothy root beer to one of his guests.

He sighed, trying his best to avoid looking over, hoping desperately for the racer to back off, quiet down, let it go.

"Shut your mouth, Rex, no one cares what you think!"

It was too much to hope for from Ted.

There was a clatter as Rex stood, knocking his stool over when he turned toward Ted sharply, his eyes flashing.

This had become typical yet again. After years of behaving himself, holding his tongue and cursing under his breath, Ted had finally started responding to Rex's taunts again . To some, it was a nuisance: an old annoyance renewed for a new generation of games. For others, it was sport: an old entertainment, reborn. To Tapper, it was an enormous source of distress.

Rex sneered, regarding the other racer who sat stiffly, glaring at him from the far end of the bar. "Still sticking up for him, are you?"

"Well somebody's got to!" Ted snapped.

Rex chuckled, amused and intrigued. "Such pathetic undying loyalty...That game-jumping bastard is not worth your time."

Ted scrambled up and around Ned, who reached for him helplessly as passed by, fists clenched at his sides. "You've got no right stirring up trouble against him!"

Rex scoffed, leaning with one elbow on the bar. "No right?" he chuckled. "I've got more right than anybody. Except maybe Ms. Von Schweetz, mod knows why she didn't just lock him up when she had the chance."

Ted shivered with anger. "Vanellope is a decent coded being, but you wouldn't know anything about decency, would you, Rex?!"

Rex sneered, standing up. At his full height, he had a good foot on Ted, but the shorter racer still stared at him with a glaring challenge. "If Turbo was my problem?" Rex purred, "I'd make sure that game jumping bastard never saw the light of any game ever again. Maybe _he_ couldn't figure out how to delete a character's code, but I'll be damned if I wouldn't try very hard to do it..."

Without a word, Ted swung a punch, but Rex dodged it with ease, snatching Ted's shoulder in one hand and swinging a punch back at him in response. Ted was thrown back to the floor with a crash. A bit of chaos stirred as other patrons turned to look, some of them jumping up from their seats. Ned himself leapt up and tried to get to his brother but as soon as he came near, Ted pushed him back and scrambled up, lunging at Rex again.

The two scuffled briefly, prompting a few cheers from Tapper's patrons and a somewhat frantic yell from Tapper himself. Ted, who'd been significantly bloodied up by this point, tugged back from Rex to disengage, but the larger racer had one more punch in him. As he released Ted with his left hand, he drew back his right fist, swinging so quickly Ted only just saw Ned move in front of him before the blow was struck.

Ned stumbled back into Ted, gritting his teeth though he held his footing. Ted, however, stumbled and fell behind him, gasping soundlessly as his arm cracked against the bar. Ned stood over him protectively, his hands still clenched, his body trembling. He squeezed his eye closed, bruised and flinching as it was, but he stared at Rex with the other eye, defiant and protective and not backing down.

"That's it!" Tapper called, giving a wave. "I want you racers out of here, the lot of you!"

Rex turned to look at Tapper quickly. "They started it!"

"I don't care who started it," the man said, lowering his hands. "I want the three of you out! I thought you were done havin' fights in here, but if you can't control yourselves, you can't be in this game."

Rex stared long and hard at the tender, then he lifted his drink, finishing it in one gulp. He dropped the glass back on the bar with a loud click, shot Ned a particularly dirty look and stalked out. Ned watched him go, never moving until the racer was out of sight. Then he turned and looked down at Ted quickly. "Are you okay...?"

Ted grimaced, holding his arm across his chest. His lip was bleeding and his cheek was bruised. "I fell on my arm," he muttered, flinching at the pain in his jaw. "Mod, he actually hit you..."

Ned was still flinching a bit as he lifted a hand to touch his eye, the skin already darkening with blood in a purpling bruise.

Tapper leaned over the bar to look down at them. There was concern in the old character's eyes, but it was tempered by a grim solemnity. "I'm sorry, boys, but I need to you to leave."

Ted looked up at him a moment, grimacing. "Right," he muttered, "kicked out once again, what else is new?" He shifted himself, looking up as Ned stood and extended his arm. With Ned's help, he pulled himself to his feet and quickly took his bruised arm across his stomach with the other. He glanced around the room. The other patrons had all stopped what they were doing to look at the twins, displaying varying degrees of amusement, disapproval, and unabashed disgust. Ted let out a shaky breath. It was back like it used to be, before the arcade had forgotten them. They were once again the reminder of bad memories: the face of Turbo Time, of the game that had borne that antagonist, Turbo.

Ted shook his head faintly and started for the door. Ned quickly stepped up to his side, taking a light hold of Ted's good arm and walking along with him. As they were just stepping out of the barroom into the hall, a rather large fighter gave Ned a light shove. For a moment Ned forgot himself and shot the man a sharp angry look, then he quickly returned his attention to his brother, squeezing his arm gently.

* * *

Turbo turned at the sound of the twins' karts, sliding off the hood of his kart to the ground and leaning back on it lightly. "Hey, you're late!" he called to them. Sour Bill awoke with a bit of a start, glancing around and eventually hoisting himself up to glance out of the car's interior.

Ned waved as he and Ted pulled over near one of the chocolate mounds and climbed out of their karts. It was only when they came near that Turbo noticed how Ted was holding his arm. "What happened to you?" he asked, scoffing until he noticed the bruise on Ned's face as well.

"It's nothing," Ted said, smiling dismissively, grinning. "So Vanellope's letting you on the track today, is sh-"

"Are you _bleeding?_" Turbo snapped.

Ted perked and quickly looked at his arm, "I-I don't think-"

"Your _face,"_ Turbo said sharply. Ted looked up at him quickly. "Your lip's bleeding." His eyes shifted to Ned and his brows fell. "You two got into a fight."

Ned glanced at Ted. His eye was a bit dark with a bruise and he nodded lightly to confirm Turbo's accusation when he noticed his brother's split lip. Ted grimaced faintly, looking back at Turbo as Ned reached over to wipe his brother's lip with his sleeve. "We were straight with you," Ted said gently. "You know we get into scuffles in Game Central, we told you that." He tilted his head away from Ned's hand. "I explained all of that to you, I've told you everything now. I swear."

Turbo glanced from one twin to the other. "What was the fight about?"

The twins exchanged a glance, then sighed in defeated unison. "You."

"I knew it!" Turbo barked. "Who the hell were you fighting with?!"

"Turbo, come on," Ted groaned, "it's not like you can do anything about it anyway."

Turbo fell silent, but his gaze was still hot. "Right," he choked bitterly.

Ned's expression fell. "Turbo..."

"Dammit," Turbo muttered, turning back to the kart. The glitch flickered through him as he climbed in, and it was King Candy who seated himself in his old familiar vehicle. Sour Bill scooted over carefully, glancing back at the twins with a dull expression before Turbo hit the gas and took off through the valley. The twins sighed, left in the dust of Turbo's exit.

* * *

"Why don't they stop this?! They'll get themselves killed fighting for me!" Turbo was pacing, still in King Candy's avatar, while Sour Bill watched him from the car. "Silly, stupid twins..." But he knew it wasn't really the twins he was angry with. He was angry with the whole situation; angry that he needed them to stick up for him, angry that they were fighting his battles because he was trapped in Sugar Rush, angry that he was unable to stick up for himself. And he worried constantly. "Ohh, Sour Bill," he murmured, a bit desperately, "what am I going to do...?"

Sour Bill gazed at him solemnly. "It wouldn't appear there's much you _can_ do, sir."

Turbo glanced up at him, his expression almost pitiful. Then he lowered his eyes again and kneaded his brows in determination. "If only I could get out of Sugar Rush," he muttered, "fight my own battles out there in Game Central, perhaps those worthless other characters would leave my twins alone..."

Sour Bill looked at him quietly still. "Sir, you're a glitch."

Turbo's chin snapped up to face him. "I realize that, Sour Bill! Thank you so kindly for pointing it out!"

Sour Bill raised his 'brows' and stared at Turbo with disinterest. Turbo frowned.

Snorting, he turned away again swiftly, taking up his pacing yet again, his eyes on the ground. "If I could just solve this whole glitch problem," he said slowly. "I mean, there ought to be a way..."

"Sir..."

"After all, I've spent years in that code vault reprogramming every mod-forsaken inch of this place, I ought to have picked up a thing or two that could help me..."

"Sir."

"And if I could do _that_, maybe I could get out of Sugar Rush altogether and-!"

"_Sir._"

"Sour Bill, what?!" Turbo turned to him quickly and was met with the sight of Vanellope standing by his kart, her expression grim. He flickered back to Turbo quickly, his face a bit red. "I-I...didn't hear..."

Vanellope's image flickered blue, then she vanished and reappeared just in front of him, pixels realigning themselves with a glowing light. "_I_ did," she muttered. He stumbled back from her, grimacing. "So what exactly is it you're planning on doing, hm?"

"N-nothing!" He held up his open palms, clenching his yellow teeth. "I was just...talking to myself, brainstorming."

"Something about fixing your glitch so that you can leave Sugar Rush?" Vanellope said, folding her arms. "And do what? Go to some other game? Stir up trouble there?"

Turbo's brows lowered quickly. "No."

"Oh yeah?" she asked, stepping closer. "So what then?"

Turbo grimaced at her, then glanced at Sour Bill, who appeared to be unwilling to offer any help. After all, he _was _Vanellope's assistant now. Turbo frowned, shifting his gaze back on her. "It's...the twins," he muttered. "They got into a fight with someone in Game Central Station. Sticking up for me."

Vanellope regarded him seriously. "Really? Because Ted told me they got into a wreck here in Sugar Rush."

Turbo scoffed. "Yeah, it's very common to get punched in the face during a wreck, you know?"

Vanellope frowned a little and glanced aside, thinking of the bruises on Ned's face. "Okay, so they got into a fight."

"Over me!" He touched his hand to his chest. "If someone in Game Central's got a bone to pick with me-"

"They all have."

"-then they should have to deal with me, not the twins!"

"I've told you!" Vanellope yelled as the racer turned from her, stalking away to begin his pacing again. "You're stuck here! It's too bad but that's what being a glitch is like, alright?!"

"Well it isn't _fair_!" he shrieked, turning toward her, his hands clenched.

Vanellope stared at him, levelly, her brows low. "No," she said stiffly. "It isn't."

Turbo stared back at her, his breath short and shaky. He looked away sharply, pressing a fist to his forehead. "This isn't about _you,"_ he muttered, "and dammit, it isn't about _me_ either, alright?!" He lowered his fist slowly, his back to her. "It's about those twins."

Vanellope stared at the racer's back, slipping her hands slowly into her pocket. "I don't believe you."

He looked over his shoulder sharply, yellow eyes flashing.

Vanellope was unaffected. She shrugged, glancing aside casually. "I mean, I do believe it's about the twins. But I believe it's about you too. There's no way you'd remove yourself from the equation...You want out of Sugar Rush for your own reasons."

Turbo stared at her silently before turning his eyes frontward again swiftly. His own reasons? Well of course he wanted out! He was a goddamn prisoner! He shut his eyes, gritting his teeth. _No_, this was about the _twins!_

"Hey Jerkface."

Turbo turned back to her again, shifting his shoulders this time to face her better, his eyes cold and sharp. The child stared back at him stoically, her shoulders low.

"I'll do whatever I can to protect the twins," she said. "But I can't allow you back in the code vault. Not after everything that's happened, and not now that the arcade knows you're alive...So your little schemes and dreams about freedom need to stop here. You understand?"

Turbo regarded her coldly, his fists clenched. He gave a stiff nod but Vanellope continued to watch him skeptically, tipping her chin upwards. "Behave yourself," she warned simply, then turned to walk away. She got a few steps from him before she glitched out of existence, reappearing at the top of the hill beyond his kart and vanishing as she stepped out of sight again. Turbo stood for a moment, seething, before he slowly walked over to his kart, his heart pounding. Sour Bill looked up at him with dull expectation as he approached. "Sir?"

At the word, Turbo's skin glitched, and left King Candy standing in his place. He frowned deeply, leaning on the side of the kart. He glanced at Sour Bill briefly, a look of stalwart determination in his brown eyes, then he gave a slow, steady nod. "Sour Bill, has Vanellope ever ordered you to keep me out of the code vault?"

Sour Bill regarded him seriously. "Sir, just now, she-"

"Has Vanellope," he repeated, stiffly, "ever _ordered you_ to keep me out?"

Sour Bill stared up at him, the faintest look of discomfort crossing his green eyes. "No, sir."

"Good," Turbo said, climbing into the kart. "I shall be in need of your assistance very soon."

* * *

He waited out the rest of that day and night, being standoffish with the twins and avoiding Vanellope altogether. When the arcade opened in the morning, after yet another sleepless night, he bid the boys watch the races from the grandstands and made enough of a show of being in a bad mood to get himself left behind in the castle. Once the races had begun for the day, he waited anxiously for Sour Bill to arrive.

It was later than he had hoped when the knock came and the door was opened by the guard outside. Werther leaned into the room, giving the racer a solemn look as Sour Bill entered, seeming mildly agitated and a bit put-off. "Sir?"

"Yes," Turbo muttered, resisting the natural inclination to glitch into King Candy's persona. Walking the castle halls with that face was a bad idea all around.

"Miss Vanellope requests your presence at the grandstands. Will you accompany me?"

Turbo snorted with feigned frustration, stepping over stiffly. "What does that glitch want?" he muttered.

Sour Bill stepped back, exchanging a brief solemn nod with Werther as Turbo exited the room, trying to hide his nervous energy. "I'll be back, Werther. Enjoy guarding your empty room."

"Sir," Werther answered solemnly, watching him with an eye that had Turbo ever-so-slightly uncomfortable. He shifted under that gaze and turned quickly, following Sour Bill down the hall at a swift pace, feeling Werther's gaze on him all the while.

"You've cleared the throne room then?" Turbo muttered under his breath as they rounded a corner.

"Yes, sir," Sour Bill answered, looking up as Turbo quickened his pace and passed him, taking the lead. The racer was glitching slightly, trying to keep his primary avatar in place. "Are you sure you wish to do this?"

"Absolutely," Turbo growled.

* * *

The code vault was cool and dark as always.

Six hours in and Turbo still didn't seem to be making headway. He had checked his code frontwards and backwards, done everything in his power to repair the frazzled broken edges, but it was unreceptive. In the entryway to the vault, Sour Bill had drifted off yet again, still holding the end of the tether in his hands. Turbo was grateful for his old ally's efforts, for clearing out the throne room long enough to gain them entry to the vault, for using Vanellope's updated password to get them in, and for standing guard all these hours, well, until he had drifted off anyway...

The racer pressed his palms to his eyes, dry and burning as they were after staring so long in the dim light. "There's _got_ to be a way," he groaned, "something, anything..."

Frustrated and tired and knowing his time was limited, he dove back into the code once again, determined. He had but one goal: to get his code to generate enough of a ghost code to let him have semblance outside the game. Even if it was temporary, if he could just get something to generate, _something_, it would mean there was hope.

Two more hours in and he was very close to giving up. The arcade would be closing soon, and if Vanellope got wind of his efforts, he suspected he'd receive me than just a stern warning this time. Would she actually lock him up for this? Not permanently, but temporarily maybe...At least restrict him to his room once again.

"Come on," he muttered, writing the same strain of code again, trying to get his own to absorb and copy it, but it dissolved like nothing into pixels. "Dammit!"

He leaned back, arms folded on his chest, floating in that empty space. When he had first come to Sugar Rush, he had been armed with nothing but his own ghost code. He had woven that, strain by strain, into King Candy's avatar until the code had accepted it as its own. Now, all he wanted in the world was to have that ghost code back. To generate it again. He had tried time and again to get what he could salvage of his own code to generate and it wouldn't. His eyes slowly shifted to the portion of code that had been corrupted by the cybug strains. He hadn't considered trying that...

Moving quickly, he tried again, encouraging the cybug strains to generate ghost code. In his head, all he could think was a desperate plea of _please, let this work_, this is my last shot...

He finished entering code and withdrew his hands, watching, his breath caught in his throat. The code hung there, not moving. Not taking, nor dissolving. He bit down on his lip hard, yellow eyes wide, hopeful.

Then slowly his code began to duplicate itself, a ghostly form of itself generating parallel to its own. Turbo let out a loud breath, clenching his hands into eager fists. It took everything in his power not to let out a scream. _It was working._

"Sour Bill!" he said urgently, tugging himself back toward the door. "Sour Bill!"

The sour ball jolted awake, blinking around himself before he glanced toward the vault and the approaching racer. "Sir...?"

"It worked!" Turbo hissed, tugging himself into the doorway and touching down easily as gravity returned to him. "It _worked!"_ He undid the tether from his waist quickly, tossing it down. "I'm going. I'm going to Game Central." His heart was pounding. Freedom was so close at hand that it had consumed his thoughts. "You straighten this up, make sure the glitch doesn't find out right away! I'll be back!"

"S-sir," Sour Bill muttered with uncertainty, winding up the tether quickly. "Think this over...Miss Vanellope will know what you've done as soon as you go out there..."

"I don't care!" Turbo called back with a laugh, pausing in the hall to look back at him. "I'm free! I can _leave! _I'm not under that brat's rule any more!"

Sour Bill stared at him solemnly, breathing out a sigh. "Sir, I'm not certain you realize the consequence of that..."

Turbo grinned, yellow teeth bright in the blue-lit room. "I'll be back, Sour Bill," he answered smugly. "When I feel like it." That said, he turned, and marched out.

* * *

Turbo stood at the crest of the rainbow bridge that led the way in and our of Sugar Rush, staring out toward the terminal beyond. He hadn't gone through this barrier in so long, and though he had had great confidence in the code vault, now that he stood at the game's edge, he was suddenly wrought with concern. What if it hadn't worked? What if the ghost code had unraveled the second he left? It likely was only temporary anyway; maybe it had already run out...

He took a breath and shook his head. No. He was determined. The arcade was just closing, the station would be coming to life with activity. This was his chance. He would show them, show them he was alive and well, and they had no business bothering with his twins when they could come to him themselves. He would tell them; he would make sure they listened.

He took a slow step forward, holding one hand out ahead of him for fear that he would hit the barrier. But as he continued walking, he soon found that he had passed right through it. He looked back, blinking at Sugar Rush fading behind him. Then a wide, eager grin sprung onto his face. And without a word, he turned and began running for the terminal.


	8. Chapter 8 - Set Loose

_Author's Notes: Well, I can honestly say the previous seven chapters of this fic have all been leading up to this one. I wrote the key scene of this chapter before I had even finished_ A New Life_, and the whole of this fic thus far has been to set-up the proper environment for it to take place. Edited, as always, by Lava. I want to thank all of my readers, reviewers, and followers, both here and on Tumblr, who have pushed me to continue writing and never give up on this fic. This chapter is my favorite and I hope that you will really enjoy it._

* * *

Chapter Eight - Set Loose

Turbo clutched the sides of the tram as it came to a light stop at the end of the terminal. It was as he had suspected. The farther he got from Sugar Rush, the weaker he was becoming. It seemed stressful now just to keep himself together. To do the simple action of climbing out of the tram and stepping onto the platform took a great effort.

He could hear the sounds of voices and the bustle of energy in Game Central Station, echoing into the terminal. He got his balance with a little effort, realizing that it was taking significant energy even to focus on staying upright. And yet that sound, that distant, echoing, ambient sound drew him on, gave him purpose. He had come for a reason. Thinking through each step, he walked along the platform and headed for the light of the station, his hands clenched at his sides. He hadn't seen this station with his own yellow eyes in almost thirty years.

Yellow eyes...

He glanced down at his hands. Grey-skinned and pale.

_Press on, press on._

His breathing was labored as he neared the end of the tunnel that opened onto the main length of the station itself. By now, it seemed as if his very code was buzzing, burning, trembling inside him. No one had yet noticed him there in the shadows. There was still time to turn back, time to fade back into in the dark, into the terminal, into Sugar Rush...

There was a buzz and a flicker of electricity as the Surge Protector reacted to his presence in the gate. Turbo smirked wryly. Too late now.

"T-Turbo?" the familiar old voice stammered. "How are...Y-you can't be here..."

Turbo didn't give Surge the privilege of a look. Partially because he was disinterested in his presence and partially because to turn and look at him would be an extra effort he wasn't willing to waste. Besides, his attention had already been fixated elsewhere. What luck. He had already spotted Rex, sitting with his back to him, chatting it up with what looked like some other racers.

_What game were they from? What games had replaced Turbo Time over the years? What characters had replaced him?_

It didn't take long for his presence to attract the attention of other characters in the station. And when he heard the first cry of his name, felt the the first strain of anxiety rip through the station, his code seemed to fizzle more. It felt like he was putting every ounce of effort into keeping his legs from collapsing under him. His confidence was slipping.

And then Rex turned toward him, his eyes flashing. And suddenly all Turbo's rage returned.

A crowd was forming. A jagged semi-circle around him. Who among these faces, some vaguely familiar and some complete strangers, were those who beat up the twins? He narrowed his gaze, casting it about slowly. They were all ignorant, all spiteful, all guilty...

"The hell are you doing here?!" Rex shouted, breaking through to the front of the crowd. Turbo's attention was back on him in an instant. "You're a glitch!"

"And yet still ten times the racer you'll ever be," Turbo muttered, his brows raised, a cocky self-confidence returning in Rex's presence. He heard Surge behind him, anxiously urging other characters to go about their business, stay out of this.

Rex's face flushed with anger. "So you can leave the game after all, can you?"

"Apparently. And as long as I'm here, I've got something to say to all of y-"

There was a loud buzz of an energy blast and a number of people scattered, clearing out of one side of the semi-circle as a number of Hero's Duty soldiers, preceded by their Sergeant, moved through the crowd, their weapons aimed quite sharply at the white-suited racer outside the Sugar Rush terminal. Turbo shrunk. It was the first time he fully realized his vulnerability, his desperate, fragile vulnerability. Sgt. Tamora Calhoun stepped ahead of her men, her massive gun trained squarely on Turbo's forehead. "Thought I smelled a cybug..."

Turbo swallowed hard. Behind him, Surge was growing frantic. "Sgt. Calhoun, it is against regulation to discharge firearms in Game Central!"

"Special circumstances, officer," she replied, keeping her eyes on Turbo. "I was under the impression _you_ were trapped in Sugar Rush. Harmless, I believe, was the word that little princess used..."

"President," Turbo corrected with a waver to his voice.

Calhoun raised her brows, but her gun remained steady. "President."

Turbo's eyes shifted past Calhoun to the rest of her men with their guns aimed at him. Just to their left, Rex was standing, looking ready enough to throttle him barehanded. As his eyes drifted over the crowd, he realized how easy, how painfully easy, it would be for most of these characters to end him. Fragile as his code was, barely keeping on his feet now, a single blow from any of them could rip through him like tissue paper. Surge was saying something, demanding the soldiers lower their weapons, and eventually Calhoun relented and gave them the order to stand down. But Turbo didn't feel much better.

_Is this how the twins feel every day?_

He swallowed. He had come here for a reason.

"I want you to leave my twins alone..."

"'Scuse me?" Rex spoke up sharply. There was a hiss of whispering, murmuring in the crowd. The fear and anxiety and anger was palpable. Turbo clenched his shaking hands. He felt like his code was on fire.

"_I'm_ the one you've got a problem with," he said loudly, trying to hide the tremble in his voice. "_I'm_ the one who game jumped, _I'm _the one who got Road Blasters unplugged-" He raised his voice sharply, his anger flaring. "_I'm_ the one who reprogrammed Sugar Rush and tried to take it over! It was _me_ who did all these things, _not them!_"

The crowd had fallen silent. Calhoun lowered her weapon slowly, glancing sidelong at Rex as the seething racer stood, fuming to her left.

"Right," Rex hissed under his breath, "it was _you._" The racer stepped forward slowly, a sneer tugging up at his lips as he towered over the grey-faced sprite before him. Turbo held his ground, but at this point he feared he had no other choice. Even moving backward now seemed like too much a challenge. His body was visibly trembling. Rex leaned over slowly, meeting Turbo's fiery gaze. "...and they're all you have left, aren't they?"

A tremor of fear sparked in Turbo. He stared at Rex. Suddenly the sharp realization of how pointless his effort had been coursed through him. He heard the murmurs in the crowd again, the bitter, spiteful, gossiping murmurs. It didn't matter, he realized numbly. It didn't matter who was guilty and who was innocent. These people-this place-had chosen their outcasts. Nothing he said would matter to them now.

Rex straightened suddenly and leaned away from him.

"Those twins should never have been allowed into Sugar Rush," Rex said loudly, "they ought to be banned from it now!"

Turbo's heart seemed to skip a beat. He realized he didn't seem to be breathing and took a bit of a gasping breath. "You can't do that!"

Rex sneered. The rest of the crowd was muttering agreements at this idea. Turbo's eyes flashed from one face to the other. Half of these characters he didn't even recognize, didn't even know. They were new, new since Turbo Time anyway. He'd barely ever seen them as King Candy! They hated him without even knowing him, hated the twins without even knowing why!

"Leave the twins out of this, they've got nothing to do with-!"

"With you?!" Rex snapped. "As long as you're around, they'll do anything for you! Even if it means helping you reprogram this whole arcade into the ground!"

Turbo opened his mouth to shout back when a glitch tore through him. And it wasn't like his usual, not like it was in Sugar Rush. It was searing and painful; it took his breath away. He clenched his fists as though he were trying to clasp onto himself, his pixels shuddering and struggling to piece themselves back together. His avatar rippled and flickered, seeming unable to solidify again.

Rex's eyes flashed. "You're still a glitch..."

Rex lunged for him suddenly. He grabbed what he could see of Turbo's arm, but the racer glitched again, badly, and for one brief moment, King Candy stared at the other racer with large, fearful brown eyes, then Rex suddenly released him as the glitch gave him a hard and painful shock. Turbo, back to his original form, stumbled back from him, gritting his teeth and struggling to keep his balance. He had to get back to Sugar Rush. His shadow code was deteriorating. He turned toward the terminal, feeling bleary and disoriented, but two fighters stepped into his way, towering over him. He tried to glare but his concentration was failing. The world was spinning.

"Glitches can't leave their games, Turbo, you ought to know that better than anyone." Turbo turned slowly to look back at Rex, his breath coming in short quavering gasps. Rex's eyes were cold. "Don't know how you got yourself out of Sugar Rush, but you're not getting back now."

Turbo tried to keep clenching his hands but his strength was failing. His vision was swimming. What he could see of himself was glowing faintly; his image disrupted. He felt like he was literally coming apart at the seams. Hissing through clenched teeth, he managed weakly, "This was never...about you, Rex..."

"Doesn't matter," Rex said coldly. Turbo became vaguely aware of a bit of a scuffling in the crowd, a voice breaking through it. But he couldn't focus on it as Rex stepped toward him. "You're not getting the chance to game jump any more. You or those stupid little twins of yours."

Turbo's eyes widened slightly. He tried to speak but the glitch wracked him again. This time he clutched at his gut, trying to pull himself in to his center, but the code was raging against itself. He flickered to King Candy and back, stumbling and then falling on his knees. He barely registered Felix breaking through the crowd, rushing forward and pushing Rex aside.

_That little handyman, pushing that big bastard aside..._

What happened then, he couldn't be entirely sure of. He was vaguely aware of what Felix was saying, but it became muddled and lost its coherency in his head. Unable to even keep himself upright anymore, he felt himself sink to the floor, his helmet knocking heavily down with a clunk. He felt broken and ashamed, weak and helpless. The arcade that once had respected him (at least as a racer if not a decent character), then feared him, now stood over him as he crumbled, his code all but destroyed.

He felt arms loop around him, felt the sensation of being lifted. He heard voices, anger and complaints, and someone speaking softly as they ran with him in their arms. The world was red and dark and hazy, painful and shameful and dark.

"Just hang in there, Turbo."

_Fix-It..._

_Nice timing..._

* * *

Turbo awoke with a start, thrashing in the bed as he came to. He sensed others in the room jumping back from him, and he was immediately aware of the size and weight of the cybug body beneath him. "N-no!" he growled, lifting his clawed hands into view quickly. "_Why did this happen again?!_" He swung his neck quickly to look to the others in the room, expecting the twins. He was surprised to find himself looking at a frowning glitch and a very worried-looking Fix-It Felix. The cybug hesitated momentarily before he dropped back down onto the bed with a creak of the candy frame.

He suddenly felt very tired. "What happened...?"

"You mean after you somehow managed to get yourself out of Sugar Rush and into Game Central Station?" Vanellope asked. Her tone was sharp. Her eyes were stoic.

He glanced aside for a moment, and the memories came back, sharp at first, then cloudy near the end. He was glitching, quite badly, outside the game. He had been fading out...

_"My land!" Felix had shouted, bursting through the crowd. "What is he doing here? What's happening?"_

"We just barely got you back here in one piece," Felix said quietly. "If not for Tamora, we might not have made it..."

Turbo shot him a quick glance before lowering his eyes again. "Where are they?"

Felix blinked uncertainly, but Vanellope answered without hesitation, "On the track. They don't know what happened yet. And before you ask, Sour Bill is with them. And since he's the only one other than me who knows the new code to get into the vault, yes, I know he helped you. "

Turbo nodded a little unsteadily, looking at the floor. His emotions seemed a wild jumble of unfamiliar feelings. Fear and longing, guilt and shame, relief, quiet relief, and deep regret.

"We just wanted to make sure you were okay," Vanellope said. Her tone had made it quite clear that he had gotten back on her bad side and she was struggling to be polite for Felix's sake. Ironic, considering his age in comparison to hers. "So if you're feeling alright, then we'll be off."

She turned to go and Felix hesitantly took a step after her, when Turbo abruptly shot out a hand, snatching Felix's arm in his claws tightly. Felix looked back at him in surprise, wincing a little at the tension on his arm until Turbo adjusted his grip. "I want him to stay."

Vanellope looked at Felix for his response. The handyman nodded faintly. "A-alright, Turbo."

Vanellope didn't seem enthused with the idea, but she raised her chin and nodded nonetheless. "I'll have someone check in on you later. If he happens to get violent, the twins told me he's got a soft spot under the armor where his wings connect. You might try that." Turbo turned to her swiftly, his eyes sharp. She only stared at him stoically. "Make sure he rests. I'll tell Ms. Calhoun you're staying." That said, she walked stiffly out and let the guard close the door behind her.

As soon as the door was closed, Turbo released Felix' arm almost immediately and collapsed onto the bed. Felix hurried to his side, leaning over him anxiously. "My land, Turbo, are you alright?"

Turbo shifted a little to his side, tugging his bug legs in against his belly. "I feel awful," he muttered. And he did. He felt miserable, in every sense of the word. Physically, mentally, emotionally. He felt like he was going to pieces. He still had enough pride not to show it in front of the glitch, but he was too afraid to be alone and he couldn't keep it together in front of Felix. He would have rather the twins or Sour Bill keep him company, but he could settle for the handyman, if he had to. He just couldn't be alone.

Felix leaned in close to him, his blue eyes timid with concern. "Can I get you anything?"

"No," Turbo said a little sharply, his eyes darting to him. "Just stay here."

Felix stayed put for a moment, then hesitantly moved to sit on the bed near Turbo's shoulders, his legs swinging over the side. "...is it true, what she said?"

"About what?" Turbo muttered.

"The spot under your wings."

Turbo shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. "Maybe," he muttered. Then, feeling rather defeated anyway, "yes."

Felix hesitated, uncertain whether he should ask permission or if it had just been granted by the admission itself. Then he slowly reached his hand over to Turbo's back, and ran his fingers under the notch of armor where the deactivated wings attached to Turbo's body. Turbo let out a brief sigh as a shiver ran through his body. Then he tilted his head on its side and felt himself relax, if just a little, into the bed.

"Thank you," he said softly. It was still an unfamiliar phrase, even if the twins had nearly beat it into his vocabulary. He still felt embarrassed to say it out loud. Less, though, right now.

Felix smiled nonetheless. "Oh, it's nothing."

"No, not this," Turbo grumbled, clicking his claws together a little anxiously, though the anxiety seemed to be melting out of him as he lay there. "For back in Game Central...Thanks for...stepping in. And for getting me back here and all."

Felix blinked at him, then looked toward the window quietly, still rubbing the spot under Turbo's armor gently, thinking how awful it would be to be trapped behind armor like that, and then, rather poetically (though tragically) thinking how Turbo had always trapped himself behind armor, even back in the old days...

"They were out of line," Felix said finally. "I mean, Jimminy Jamminiy, some of the things they were saying...trying to separate you and the twins. They've got no right to do that, nobody has."

Turbo gazed out the window himself, feeling somber and quiet. Then suddenly, he felt himself blinking away tears. He clenched his teeth a moment, willing himself to stop, but before he could control it, a weak sob broke his lips and he closed his eyes tightly to hold in the tears. Felix almost jumped, staring at him in surprise. "T-turbo, are you alright?"

"Of course I'm not alright!" Turbo choked through a sob. He quickly brought his claws to his face to hide himself, shaking. Felix began to get up, lifting his hand when Turbo abruptly barked from behind his claws, "_Don't stop!_"

Felix quickly put his hand back in place, watching Turbo anxiously.

"This whole thing is a nightmare!" he shouted, seeming to be crumbling before Felix's eyes. "I'm scared out of my mind, you know that?!" He lowered his claws, turning toward Felix, a red face with wild eyes, full of tears. "I thought I didn't care, _but I do! _I don't want to die, I want to keep on living here! I know I did awful things, and to tell you the truth, I'd probably do it all over again if I could—but I can't! _And I won't!_ I-I mean, I...I choose not to now, something's changed!" He seemed to be wavering, his eyes shifting from side to side. "I just don't want to die, and I don't want to be locked up alone, I couldn't stand it! Even if I can never race again, I want to stay here! And I want them here with me!_ I want to be with those goddamn twins no matter what it costs me!_"

Felix was silent, staring at the old racer with wide eyes. Turbo was drawing shaky breaths, his body trembling. There was a faint creak and they both turned abruptly at the sound.

Ted and Ned stood just inside the doorway, staring at them, their eyes wide and blinking. Turbo stared back at them briefly, then looked away suddenly, cursing, his face red and hot. He swiftly pressed his face into his arms and shuddered hard.

The twins crossed the room as quietly as they had entered, moving around to Turbo's head and quietly kneeling down on the floor in front of him. His shoulders raised slightly as he tensed, still pressing his face down into his arms, hiding from them.

"Did you really mean that?" Ned asked softly.

Turbo seemed to be trying to burrow himself into the bed, squirming uncomfortably. He was still holding in sobs behind his arms. Ted reached out and touched the top of his head gently, leaning in close to him. "Turbo, did you mean what you said...?"

Turbo's head snapped up, looking an absolute mess now, he choked out, "Yes, you bastards, _I love you two_!"

The twins' shoulders rose in unison, their expressions growing into bright, overwhelmed smiles. Without a word, they both swung in toward him, wrapping their arms around his neck, hugging to him tightly. Felix had to lean back out of their way, holding in a few tears himself as he watched their reunion.

"More than racing!" Ned cried, pressing his face against Turbo's head. "He loves us more than racing!"

"I didn't say that!" Turbo choked tearfully, but he knew very well what he'd said.

Ted, for once, didn't seem to have any words at all. He just held onto Turbo tightly, feeling for once like everything had been worth it. Like everything had fallen into place.

It still took Turbo a while to stop his crying. What had started as an overflow of his raw emotion slowly turned into embarrassment and shame at his tears, which in turn caused more tears. After some time, with a lot of encouragement from the twins (who were happy to dry his face with their sleeves), Turbo had calmed himself enough to stop shaking and settle comfortably on the bed. The twins got up off the floor and moved to sit with Felix at Turbo's side, pleased and a little amused to find that Felix had discovered Turbo's sweet spot, although they chose not to comment on it. They had only just got Turbo calmed down and were in no mood to rile him by bringing up his 'secret.' But in truth, they thought perhaps the spill of emotions had only been spurred on by a gentle touch in the right direction.

* * *

Turbo was barely awake, gazing wearily out of the window again, his head tipped to the side. Ned and Ted had laid their arms across his body and were talking quietly to Felix about nothing in particular. At first, they had asked for the full story, and Felix described it as gently as he could. He told them of the other arcade characters' threats, and of Turbo's glitching. After the initial shock of that information had worn off, they decided to change the subject altogether. They specifically avoided Turbo himself as a topic of conversation, hoping to let their old friend catch up on his rest instead of constantly trying to listen in. He did listen though, to some extent, to snippets of conversations that came and went...

Ted's voice: "Isn't it tough on you and Ms. Calhoun, being in different games?"

Turbo breathed out softly. He could still feel Felix' hand, gently massaging the skin on his back. Was he imagining it, or was there a hand on the other side now too? Either way, it felt wonderful. In fact, it made him feel very drowsy...

"Oh. Well," Felix chuckled, "it can be tough. But you learn to make an effort to be with someone you love..."

Turbo blinked once or twice, very slowly, then he slipped away very quietly into sleep.


	9. Chapter 9 - Darkest Secrets

_ Author's Notes: My editor gave me the best reaction to this chapter of anything I've yet written. I'm really pleased to present to you the next-to-last chapter in my fic, which consists mainly of backstory. Prepare yourselves, and please enjoy._

* * *

Chapter Nine - Darkest Secrets

When Turbo awoke, he found the twins fast asleep against his belly. He was laying on his side on the oversized bed in their room in the palace. In spite of all the time he'd spent there, it somehow seemed distant and dreamlike as he came to that morning. Half-cybug, with his twins, in his palace...It was all so unbelievable.

He twisted his head round to look out the window. It was early yet; the arcade wasn't open and the races hadn't yet begun.

He lay there a little while in silence, listening to the twins breathing beside him. Felix had gone in the night, it seemed. No real surprise there. Turbo was almost certain he had sensed Calhoun's presence in the castle the entire time Felix had been with them the night before. She had likely been pacing the palace halls, demanding answers to questions no one could give but the sleepy code-altering cybug himself.

He hadn't deserved that little whatever-it-was with Felix and the twins the night before. Not after what he'd done.

But he didn't deserve much of anything, he supposed, so what difference did it really make?

There was a quiet knock at the door and he lifted his head slowly, neck twisting round as he turned to see Werther push open the door with a solemn expression to allow Sour Bill entrance. The little green candy gazed up at the cybug king with the same dull, stoic expression as ever. Yet if there was any hint of any other emotion to be found there, it was disappointment.

"Sir. Miss Vanellope requests your presence in the Royal Chambers."

"I had a feeling she would," he murmured. It took some doing, but he managed to very carefully remove himself from his entanglement with the twins, slipping to the floor and weaving round the corner of the bed. He lifted his head and looked down at the two racers, peacefully sleeping, Ted with his arm around his brother. Then Turbo lowered his gaze quietly and sighed, nudging Ned's helmet with his forehead before he turned to follow Sour Bill.

As he exited the room, passing Werther on his right, the loyal guard gave him a slow, solemn bow. Turbo tried his best to ignore him as he left the room behind.

Turbo and Sour Bill walked the palace halls in silence. The candy's green little hovering limbs clattering and Turbo's insectile feet tapping along in an eerie, awkward echo.

He wanted to apologize. Wanted to tell his old confidant that he was sorry for using him, for getting him in whatever trouble he had gotten him in. But he couldn't bring himself to break that heavy silence. So when they reached the royal chamber and the guards parted to let the cybug in, he left Sour Bill without a word, and when the doors were closed behind him, he never looked back to bid him off.

* * *

Vanellope was sitting on the edge of her throne. She looked up at Turbo as he came in, her expression hard and cold, the way it had been when he'd first woken up in the palace, bound and captive those weeks ago. He wanted to rise up, to command the situation, show her he was powerful and above her still, but his body betrayed him. He slunk low to the ground as he approached her, feeling bitter and guilty and, admittedly, a little afraid.

"So," she said as he approached, crossing her arms on her chest, "you have something to say to me?"

He kept his head low, stopping a few feet away from the throne. "I went behind your back," he muttered.

She raised her brows. "And?"

"I broke into the code vault."

"And?"

"I shouldn't have done it..."

Her tone was getting strained now, "_And?_"

He lowered his head a bit more, his tongue slipping out of his fangs in mild disgust. "I'm not going to apologize, if that's what you're waiting for..."

Vanellope rolled her eyes and threw up her arms in defeat. "Why should I have expected it, right?" She slid off the throne to her feet, turning toward him with a fire in her deep brown eyes. "You figured out how to get out of Sugar Rush! What were you thinking?!"

Turbo watched her closely. Why on Earth did he feel afraid of her, of a child, of a glitch? But it wasn't the sort of fear he was used to, it wasn't the fear that she could harm him. It was the fear of what she thought, of her opinion of him. What the hell did he care about that?!

"I wanted to fight my own battle," he said, his voice quavering a little. He was trying to stay calm, not to yell, but his patience was crumbling. "I told you that! The twins are out there facing those idiots in Game Central every day, when I'm the one people are angry with...!"

"And you thought going to Game Central Station was gonna fix that?!" Vanellope advanced on him and to his great distress, he realized he was stepping back away from her submissively. "You have no idea how hard I've been fighting to get people to leave you alone here! And you know what was a _huge_ selling point for getting people on my side? The fact that you _couldn't _leave this game! Now they all know you can, somehow or other, so my whole argument is ruined!"

Turbo clenched his claws into his fists, rising up a little. "I'm not a threat to them-!"

"You're not a king any more!" Vanellope threw out her hands. "You're a little loudmouth punk who no one respects!" The cybug huffed loudly, taken aback by her words, but Vanellope just went on. "Some people might be afraid of you, but most of them are just plain angry at you. So no one is going to listen when you talk, do you get that? You haven't got a bunch of loyal subjects any more—you've got _real _people, who _really_ don't like you! Why would you think they would ever believe you when they barely believe me?!"

Turbo stared at her, his eyes wide and deeply fearful. Her words had broken down the barriers keeping his emotions in check, and finally he looked the way he felt inside: fragile, and well aware of it.

"Please don't take them away from me," he murmured, uncertain of the words, or the motivation behind them.

Vanellope faced him seriously. Her eyes were firm, but they softened at those words. At Turbo's admission of weakness, at the way he crouched before her, actually looking up at her, his body low to the ground and his eyes timid and threatened. _He's broken_, she thought.

"I would never do that," she said evenly. "And I won't let anyone else do it either."

He glanced aside, blinking away the tears that had suddenly pricked at his eyes.

"But I'll be honest," Vanellope continued gently, "I've got no idea where to go from here."

He glanced up at her weakly, then away again. After a moment, he simply let himself sink to the floor, tucking his legs in around him. "I don't know what I was doing...I wasn't thinking."

"That seems to be a pattern with you," Vanellope muttered, stepping over to him. She hunkered down, leaning her elbows on her knees and her chin on her fists. "How on earth did you do it, anyway? You're still glitching. Felix said you glitched out in Game Central and almost went to pieces. How did you get out?"

Turbo's eyes flickered to her then away again. He grimaced a bit toothily. "I was just experimenting with the codes, trying to write myself a shadow code, or get King Candy's code to do it for me. And I managed to get the cybug code to produce one, but it didn't last, the code just disintegrated and..." He lay his head down on his hands, looking away from her. "You wouldn't understand it anyway."

Vanellope tilted her head slightly. "No, I probably wouldn't. You know an awful lot about code, don't you? More than anyone else in the arcade probably."

Turbo scoffed softly. That much was obvious.

Vanellope stared at him a long while, her gaze firm and steady. "How did you learn?"

Turbo turned toward her swiftly, his eyes flashing.

"I want to know," she said firmly. "When, how did you learn code? Was it back in Turbo Time?"

Turbo stared at her, his clawed hands trembling, but he had no where to hide them. He looked away quickly, rolling his shoulders up and casting his gaze around the floor. "I haven't even told the twins about that..."

"Well, I need you to tell me. Now, Turbo." Turbo looked back at her with a sharp glance, almost flinching. Vanellope continued to stare evenly. "If you won't tell me, I'm gonna have to seriously consider locking you up. And you know I don't want to do that. But if you _are _a threat to this arcade, then my method of dealing with you has to change. This is serious, Turbo, I don't think you realize how serious it is. The whole arcade is up in arms over you and if I'm going to try and fight this battle, then I need to know the whole story."

Turbo held her gaze anxiously before he looked away again, biting his lip lightly. "Glitch..."

"Turbo." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. She was looking at him with an almost pleading gaze. "I can't help you if you don't tell me...I know you don't like me, I know you don't really trust me, but I'm the only one in this arcade who has any real say in what happens to you, so I need you to tell me. People are scared of you _because_ you know code. Because of what you can do with that knowledge. If it wasn't for that, you'd just be a snot-nosed punk from an unplugged game...So I need to know about the thing people are afraid of. I still want to help you. But I need you to tell me. How did you learn?"

Turbo flinched, looking down at the floor, scuffing at the tile lightly with his feet. "...you can never tell the twins."

Vanellope lowered herself to sit cross-legged on the floor beside him, leaning forward with a patient gaze. "I will never tell them. I promise."

Turbo tried to relax himself slowly, scratching at the back of his hands with his claws, trying to collect his thoughts and calm the rush of emotions telling him to shut up and stop talking before he even began.

"It all started," he murmured, "a few weeks before Road Blasters got plugged in...

"I was the greatest racer ever. That was what I was programmed to be. In my head, that's just how it was. How I thought of myself. And for a while, a long while, that was all I needed. I _was_ a great racer. The gamers loved me, the arcade looked up to me. Even if I wasn't the most agreeable guy, no one could deny that I racked up the quarters on my cabinet. I loved racing. I loved winning. I loved my brothers...

"But I don't know. As time went on, I just...started getting frustrated. Unsatisfied and angry about it. I kept thinking, if I was such a good racer, why did I have to lose whenever a mediocre player took the controls? I got bitter about gamers. Thrilled when the skilled ones played and furious when I had to submit to someone else's poor control. Everyone in the arcade thought I was crazy. They said, it happens. Every game has bad gamers from time to time. You're not there to always win your game, you're there to give the gamers a good time!

"But it got to me...

"Who the hell cared if the gamers had a good time? _I _wasn't having a good time. I was losing. And I hated losing.

"In those days, Ned spent a lot of time working on the karts...He knew all sorts of tricks to make them run better, smoother, faster. But his work was limited. As soon as the kart regenerated, if you crashed or when the game reset at the end of the day, your work was lost. _He _didn't seem to mind. But it wasn't good enough for me.

* * *

_Ned leaned on the hood of Turbo's kart as he closed it, looking at the other racer seated behind the wheel. "It'll improve your speed a bit," he commented, "but once your kart regenerates, it goes back to normal, so you've got to try not to crash."_

_"Don't have much control over that," Turbo muttered, brushing his hand on the wheel of the kart. "Too bad you can't make it last."_

_Ned shrugged faintly. "The kart's not coded that way, Turbo. But if you're careful, it'll last you a bit." He smiled. "I mean, the only way to make it permanent would be to rewrite the code. So I guess you're outta luck."_

* * *

"Altering your game's code was pretty taboo in those days...I guess it still is now." The cybug chuckled weakly, laying his chin on his claws. "Even moreso after this whole Sugar Rush fiasco, I suppose.

"In any case, Ned had...unwittingly inserted the idea into my mind. And for a while it just...consumed me. I obsessed over the idea that if I could harness this code, I could make the ideal kart. I could give myself an advantage. I could possibly even rewrite my own code to give me control when a poor gamer was playing the game.

"It never...occurred to me, the damage I could do...

"I spent hours, _days_, learning everything I could about code. But I was reckless and foolish, then as now, and I was so eager to get started, to harness the power I was learning about, that I started rewriting bits of code with the meager knowledge that I had. It worked marvelously at first. I made my kart faster, improved its handling, even changed the interior to make it more comfortable.

"It was _all I wanted._ To improve my kart, to give me a better edge, to give me a shot at taking the controls myself...But the more I worked in the code vault, the more I...was tempted to explore. I started to think, I could do the same things, in reverse, to the other racers' karts. I could give them as much a disadvantage as I had given myself an advantage. I could alter the whole game to suit me, to work to my advantage..."

Vanellope stared at the creature before her. He was gazing along the length of the floor distantly, his expression pained and yet still there was the hint of that parasitic lust for power as he spoke, right back in that moment.

"I wasn't thinking," Turbo murmured. "Every time I hesitated, I just kept reminding myself: I _deserve_ this, _I deserve_ to be the best, I am _supposed to be_ the best.

"I...started with Nitrus. I was just going to slow down his kart, I was just going to give him a small disadvantage. I wasn't planning to touch his code, I wasn't planning to do anything to _him, _but I just, before I knew it, I was there, poking around in his code, in the heart of his code, in his..in his personality and I thought...if he was just less aggressive, if he cared less about winning, if he...if he was just _different_..."

"You altered your own brother's code."

Turbo lifted his eyes slowly and met the gaze of the child. She was looking at him with a sort of restrained disgust, a look of deep disappointment and disturbance.

"I was trying to fix him..."

"He wasn't _broken_."

Turbo swallowed hard, lowering his eyes again slowly. A tense silence passed before the cybug began again, his voice weak. "It didn't work...I got on the track the next day and Nitrus nearly took me out during the race. I was shocked. After hours, he was agitated and hostile. Somehow, he seemed worse. So I went back in, I tried to fix what I had done, but. The more I rewrote, the more it seemed to fall apart...Nitrus kept getting worse. His aggression skyrocketed. He was fighting more. He was ruthless on the track. I had to start hiding from him altogether after the races. I spent hours in the vault, trying to fix what I had done, trying to put things back the way they were, but I couldn't get it right, I couldn't remember how it was.

"And then...one day I realized what I had done..."

He swallowed hard, closing his eyes and curling his claws inward against the floor.

"Turbo Time...began to glitch. The backgrounds, the karts, our home. The others either didn't seem to notice, or when they did, brushed it aside as just a fluke. But I knew better. And I couldn't bring myself to tell them. I spent every waking moment I had in the vault, trying to fix what I had done, but every move I made seemed to make things worse. I couldn't fix it. The game was...falling apart."

He chuckled weakly, bitterly, shifting himself slowly onto his side, laying his head at Vanellope's feet, eyes gazing outward dully. "And just when I finally...brought myself to accept the fact that my game was doomed, here came Road Blasters, plugged in right across from us.

"I couldn't believe it. I wasn't even gone yet, and I was already being replaced..."

In silence, Vanellope reached out a steady hand and lay it on the back of the king's head.

"I _was_ jealous...but it was more than that. I was desperate. And angry. And afraid. I hated that game, and every character in it, before I even met them. I hated them because I hated myself, and I _needed_ someone else to blame...

"I finally started to lose it when Ted and Ned started inviting Rex to Turbo Time after hours. It was bad enough when they started going over _there _to race with him, but having him in my game, my broken, dying, withering game, was almost unbearable. I started getting so consumed with the thought of losing it all, of becoming nothing, of being forgotten and replaced by this bastard, I didn't know what to do with myself. There was nothing I could do, no action I could take to fix everything. The glitching kept getting worse.

"My world was literally falling apart around me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it...Maybe if I knew then what I know now, but...at that time, there was just nothing I could do. I kept trying to repair the holes in the code, but it was deteriorating faster than I could keep up with. The twins and the others still didn't seem to notice, passed it off as your everyday glitchiness, but I knew better. It was killing me.

"My anger was just building, I guess, building up until I couldn't take it any more. I had been avoiding the twins since they started bringing Rex by. The only time we ever interacted was during the races, and I tried to avoid dealing with them as much as possible before and after.

"I remember, we were in the middle of a race, I was in first place...When a glitch ran through the kart and I nearly lost control. I veered off course and lost the race. I was furious. Everything was falling apart. I was going to lose my game and I couldn't even do it with honor because Rex and his damn game had stolen our thunder. To be honest, I can't really remember what was going through my head...all I know is that I hit the gas and took off, and...that was the last I saw of Turbo Time. I never looked back. I can't even remember seeing the twins as I went, I just...left. I just ran. If I was going down, I was taking Rex with me."

Turbo swallowed, staring off into nothing. "I...didn't think. I wanted to ruin him, I wanted to ruin Road Blasters, I wanted to destroy it. It was like Turbo Time was already gone, and I blamed them for taking it away from me. By the time I realized what was happening, what I'd done, it was too late. My first instinct was to get away and hide." He swallowed again, closing his eyes. "And then Rex came out of nowhere. I should have seen it coming, should have anticipated retaliation, but I didn't. By the time I saw him, it was too late. My kart wrecked pretty badly, but I'd gotten out of it before its code dissolved. I was a bit banged up, but enough that I could get out before the game was unplugged."

He lapsed into silence for a little while before he spoke with a weak shudder, "The rest is history, I guess. I hid out for a few years...breaking into a few different games, trying to write myself into the code somewhere else, somewhere I could hide. Until Sugar Rush came along. You know the rest."

There was silence again. Vanellope sat still beside the cybug, her hand still gently resting on his head. Turbo either hadn't noticed her touch or was too lamely wounded to push it away. He just lay still, staring, not moving at all.

"Turbo Time was going to be unplugged even before you game jumped..."

"Yes..."

"You really tried to _rewrite_ your own game, your own brother, to suit your selfish ends..."

Turbo said nothing. He lay still and weak on the floor in the royal chamber, _his _royal chamber...or not his, it was hard to tell any more.

"I won't tell them," Vanellope said softly. "I won't tell the twins. I promise you that."

Turbo was sick of this. Sick of these tears that kept showing themselves in front of people he had wronged, people he had hurt. He was disgusted with himself, ashamed and upset at the pathetic creature he'd become. He pulled an arm in front of his face as he lay there next to the child, crying bitterly, and trying to forget.


	10. Chapter 10 - Of Use

_Author's Notes: I am doing a bit of a retcon in order to fix some issues with my changing concepts as I wrote this fic. I earlier referred to Calhoun as Felix's wife, but for the sake of continuity, please assume that at this point they are not yet married and simply courting._

_Otherwise, welcome to the final chapter. Don't fret that there's not much twins here-the epilogue will include what I think is a really nice final scene for the main trio of this fic. Anyway. I thank you all for making it this far and I hope you enjoy my wrap-up. Writing this fic has been so much fun and I am going to miss it! The epilogue will be posted _**_next week_** _as opposed to my usual two week update schedule. I hope to have the epilogue up next Wednesday or Thursday. And that will be that! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's a short one._

* * *

Chapter Ten - Of Use

The next few days were admittedly tense in Sugar Rush, and the entire arcade for that matter, although Turbo saw very little of either. The day after his conversation with Vanellope, the self-imposed president had permitted the cybug to participate in the roster race, thereby returning him to his original form once again. And since that point on, the grey-faced racer had been been returned once more to the twins' room, under lock and key and guard once again.

Turbo for once had no interest in going out anyway. The twins spent most of their time with him, trying to keep him calm and comfortable, and for the most part failing, but continuing persistently anyway. Vanellope, for her part, had her hands full trying to convince the other arcade leaders that Turbo was _not_ able to run loose in the arcade, in spite of his recent appearance in Game Central Station, yet the fragile alliances she had built with other games were on increasingly shaky ground.

Aside from that, Turbo knew little else of what happened outside the little palace room with the cybug-sized bed that seemed huge when he lay in it by himself, watching the twins seated by the window, with their eyes on the track beyond them. He was frustrated and weary, angry and hopeless. The desire to prove something to those know-it-alls outside the game had faded into a dull disinterest in anything beyond the little room. The twins were admittedly concerned.

The glitchy racer leapt from hopeless lethargy to restless aggression in a heartbeat. He could lie for hours, staring at nothing, and then suddenly leap up and begin ranting with the sort of energy only Turbo had. The twins, at least, discovered that although his cybug sweet spot didn't translate perfectly to Turbo's old avatar, with a bit of massaging under his shoulder blades, they could at least get him to relax a bit and quiet down. So they found themselves frequently sitting on the bed beside him, each rubbing one of his shoulders, just trying to keep him from jumping up and picking a fight with the characters whose voices they could hear outside the door.

The racing had stopped altogether, of course. And although Turbo had confessed to the twins' delight that he was content to be with them even if he never raced again, they all still _wanted_ to race, and their minds and bodies itched with desire for it.

In silent frustration, Turbo added 'leaving Sugar Rush' to his ever-lengthening list of regrets.

* * *

It was one week after Turbo's stroll into Game Central Station that Vanellope summoned the trio of racers to her chambers, just after the arcade had opened for the day.

Turbo had avoided all contact with Vanellope since his confession. The level of shame he felt in her presence was a bit too much to bear. But it was hard to refuse a summons from her just the same, particularly when she had clearly chosen not to participate in the day's roster specifically to speak with them. The twins were insistent.

Vanellope was seated on the throne awaiting them when they entered, although she stood to meet them with a broad smile that seemed out of place considering the difficult week it had been for everyone. "Come in, guys! Don't be shy now!"

The twins were as startled as Turbo by the eagerness of the child, but they could sense the sincerity in her tone. With the thought that good news was about to be shared with them, they each placed a hand on Turbo's back and pushed him forward with them to meet her. Turbo shuffled between them uncomfortably, keeping his eyes low, not wanting to meet the gaze of the child who had shamed him.

Vanellope waved them closer as she stepped forward to meet them, smiling. "I have good news!"

"I can tell," Ted said with interest, smiling a bit in return. "Although to be honest, I can't imagine how..."

"Well," she said, holding a finger up to him, "for starters, beginning tomorrow, you twins can start racing with us Sugar Rushers again."

"What about Turbo?" Ned asked.

Vanellope shifted her attention to the other twin. His face showed deep concern, but she only smiled curiously back at him. "Well, starting tomorrow," she said, "Turbo is going to have a bit of a job. And if it works out, he can start racing again with you before too long."

Turbo met her eyes for the first time, his brows low with mild suspicion. "...job?"

Vanellope smiled still, and there was the faint glimmer of relief in her eyes. "Working in the code vault," she said. "I want you to do some adjustments to the code here in Sugar Rush. Fix some of the glitchier areas that have showed up since the whole cybug invasion. Truth is, no one else really knows what to make of it. You're pretty...unique in your understanding of code. _And _I figure it'd be a decent way for you to...ah...make up for your...crimes."

Turbo blinked at her, then scoffed. "You want me messing around in Sugar Rush's code? I'm sure the rest of the game loves that idea."

"Actually, they've agreed to it," she said. "A bit grudgingly, but I got their approval, on a whole. You'll be supervised, of course. But if you're a good little glitch-" She smirked as he clenched his fists "-and you work hard at it, I think you'll be able to earn the support of a lot of characters, here and outside the game. In fact, one other game has already agreed to let you come work on their code if you ever figure out how to get into another game."

Turbo stared at her. He wanted to laugh, but the feeling was stuck in his throat. This was ridiculous, impossible. Who in their right mind would want _him_ messing about in the code of their game? Did they suddenly forget, suddenly get stupid overnight?

He looked up suddenly when he felt Ted give his shoulder a tight squeeze. The twin smiled down at him gently, encouragingly. Even he had a slight look of disbelief in his eyes though.

"Y...you've got to be kidding me," Turbo finally managed, looking back at Vanellope slowly. "Why?"

Vanellope gave a little shrug and smirked at him. "Truth is, you're just the _only_ person in this arcade who knows code well enough to work in it and really know what you're doing. And even the best games have little issues in their code from time to time. For some games, little errors like that can become big errors and eventually get them unplugged...Having someone who knows what they're doing and can prevent that sort of thing is a pretty big deal.

"Felix has invited you to his game too," she added, "if you can figure out how to get there. He says they've got a few glitchy problems with the newcomers from Q*bert, so if you could figure out how to fix them, you'd be a welcome help."

Turbo gaped at her. This was insanity! Who in their right mind...?!

He stared at her silently. She was giving him a smile unlike one he'd ever seen on her face before. It was like the smile the twins had had when they were reunited with him the palace, so proud of the plan they'd concocted to help him get into the code vault. It was pride. She was seeking praise. From _him_. And the worst part was...if this was true, if what she was telling him was actually true...then she deserved the praise she sought.

"So...?" she cooed, large brown eyes still staring up at him expectantly. "Are you up for it? Cuz the alternative is pretty much continuing exactly what you're doing now, being locked up here all the time and not racing. But." She raised a finger, looking really quite pleased with herself. "If you _can_ make yourself useful and clean up this game a bit, I'll be more than happy to let you back out on the track after hours...You and the twins both."

Turbo stared at her.

"I'm in."

* * *

Things, of course, were still difficult going. But Turbo warmed up to the idea of working on Sugar Rush's code, and before long he was spending the greater portion of arcade hours there in the vault, working on various issues Vanellope pointed out to him. Sour Bill, of course, kept loyal watch. As well as the twins, when they weren't racing, who would sit in the hall to the vault itself, playing cards, laughter echoing in the code room beyond.

Turbo's assistance repairing some glitchy areas of the game didn't exactly endear him to the Sugar Rush racers, but it at least seemed to pacify most of them. As for the rest of the arcade, many continued to regard him with suspicion and anger, but he learned to pay them little mind. Vanellope continually reminded them that it was her game and her choice to deal with him. They were eventually forced to submit to her authority.

When he'd fixed some of the trickier areas of the game, Turbo began to experiment once again with ghost codes, and managed to make himself a better, more substantial copy of his code to take outside of Sugar Rush. With the twins at his side now, he started making brief, experimental trips to Game Central Station. He wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms, but with the twins there to protect him, and Vanellope's threat of swift, royal punishment on anyone who messed with them, most of the arcade citizens let him be. Though there were those who now deeply distrusted the child president, the general consensus of the arcade was simply that she was a powerful and authoritative child. Someone not to be reckoned with. And though she might protect an unplugged sprite like Turbo, she wasn't about to let him run wild under her watch.

* * *

Turbo was lounging back in his old kart, wearing King Candy's face and parked at the crest of one of the hills in Chocolate Twist, glancing over what could be seen of the landscape from that point. It was hard to believe little more than a month ago he'd been hiding out here, cybug body distressing him as he lay awake in his cave with the twins trying their best to encourage him. At that time, he was desperately trying to concoct ways to get to the code vault, thinking it impossible and nigh giving up...Now he spent every day in that vault, with Vanellope's own permission.

Funny, how things changed.

He glanced up at the sound of another kart's engine cresting the hill behind him. In a few moments, the hood of Vanellope's kart came into view, slowing to a stop beside him. He grimaced faintly and looked ahead of himself again.

There was a moment of silence when he could feel her eyes on him.

"I wanted to talk to you," she said, leaning forward on her steering wheel and looking over at him.

"What makes you think," he lisped with mild frustration, "that I've got any interest in talking to you, hm?" He sunk a bit lower in his seat, almost out of her view.

She puffed out her cheeks a little and leaned over the side of her car toward him. "Let me talk to Turbo, he hates me less than you do. And I've got something to ask him."

Turbo's expression softened a bit from where she couldn't see him. He frowned quietly, wondering why he did hate her so much. She'd done an awful lot for him, and she had even less reason to help him than the twins did. In fact, she had no reason to help him at all. He took a breath and cleared the look from his face, sitting up and glancing at her. A glitch flickered along his face, and when the red ripples settled, he returned to Turbo's avatar comfortably, yellow eyes giving her an even, honest look. "What did you want?"

She leaned on the side of her kart, chin resting on her forearms. "I want to ask for a favor. And you owe me about a billion, so you can't really refuse, okay?"

Turbo grimaced faintly, but he held back the urge to argue with her. "What is it?"

"Do whatever it is you do...so I can leave the game," she said softly. He blinked. Her eyes were large and thoughtful and a bit longing. "I want to be able to go outside. I want to visit Ralph and Felix in their own game."

Turbo stared at her, then he bunched his shoulders a little and glanced away. "You know I can barely get that to work for myself. I almost glitched myself into a grave out there..."

"I know, but...you're still trying to figure out how to make it work, right? So when you do," she said, leaning back in her kart and lowering her eyes, "could you do that for me?"

Turbo was silent a little while, brushing his thumb along the steering wheel of his own kart. Or her kart, really. He had stolen it, after all. "Sure, gli...Vanellope. I mean I...I do owe you."

She smiled faintly as she lifted her eyes back to him, tilting her head at the quiet, thoughtful look on the racer's face. Then she perked up. "Wanna race?"

He gave a jolt as though he had heard his name called, shooting her a quick look.

"Right now. From here to the start line," she said.

Turbo nodded eagerly, immediately starting the engine on his kart. Vanellope grinned.

As they both took off down the track, the roar of their kart engines filling the air, a thought occurred to them both:

There were worse things in life than sharing your game with an annoying little glitch.


	11. Epilogue

_Author's Note: I can't even believe this is over. This story has consumed my life since December. Half a year! I'm very sad and yet very pleased to be coming to the end. I wrote this epilogue months ago and it's just been a matter of time getting to it. To the many of those who have asked if this is a trilogy: no, it is not. I have no immediate plans to write a third part, although I may write more short fiction that takes place within this headcanon/timeline. But as for this actual story, no. This was the end of the plot I envisioned. _

_To all of the folks who actually hung on and followed through with me to the end: thank you. So much. I couldn't have done this with out you. A huge thanks to my editor, Lava, and to all of the people who encouraged me throughout writing this. I'm very proud of this work and it's been a pleasure to share it with you. Feel free to contact me on tumblr at 'ask-ktb-and-the-twins' if you have any other questions about the fic or the ending or anything. Thank you again. It's been a lot of fun!_

* * *

Epilogue

Ted climbed out of Fix-It Felix, Jr,'s rattling little tram cart, turning to look back at Ned and Turbo behind him. Turbo was leaning forward a little in the seat, his body obviously tense as he focused the better part of his energies just on keeping his code together. He glanced a bit tensely at Ned, who carefully climbed out onto the platform and offered him a hand."You doing okay?"

"Y-yeah," Turbo muttered, taking Ned's hand and squeezing it tightly as he pushed himself out of the cart as well, relying more on Ned's tug than on his own legs' ability to hoist himself out.

Ted led the way ahead of them, smiling to himself, a halfway-forced smile that mixed his excitement at being outside of Sugar Rush with concern over Turbo's condition. He was doing his best to stay upbeat, to direct the tone of their visit to a positive one. It wasn't every day the unplugged racers were invited to a party, and Ted intended for them to make a good impression. As much as he couldn't care less what the rest of the arcade thought of him any more, he was determined, for Turbo's sake, to be an upstanding party guest.

Ted let out a soft breath and he apartment building glowed warmly in the game's dark atmosphere. The music from the party could be heard even before the tram carts had reached the game's platform. The racer tipped his chin upwards to the penthouse, watching the vague shadows and indicators of movement. He hadn't been invited to a party in this game (nor any other) since his own game had been unplugged. Though he had crashed a few, that was generally for the purpose of making a scene. Being here, being invited, being a 'guest'...it felt like the old days.

Turbo, however, had no such recollections. Though he may have had fond (or at least, not terrible) memories of past parties and visits to Fix-It's, he was too busy focusing on walking to do much else now. Even after days of working on his code, every step was still a struggle, but to his great relief, he was still moving, leaning slightly on Ned for support. He felt his right knee give a bit and he toppled somewhat into the other racer, who caught him immediately. "Careful, careful," Ned said gently, looping his arm through Turbo's and helping pull him upright. Normally Turbo would have pushed him away, refused the gesture or at least made a complaint about it, but today he didn't bother. A few of the Nicelanders were milling about at the front steps of the building, glancing in the direction of the trio suspiciously, but for the first time in Turbo's life, an unusual thought ran through his head: why do I care what they think anyway?

"You're early!" Felix called as he hurried down the front steps and toward them. "I was goin' to meet you at the platform!"

"It's fine," Ted said, smiling the most genuine smile he could manage. "It didn't take us as long to get through Game Central as we expected. Which is a good thing." He glanced back at Ned and Turbo. Ned was smiling politely and Turbo was looking up at Felix, quite belabored.

"How's he doing?" Felix asked quietly.

"I'm _fine_," Turbo snapped. For the first time, he seemed to actually notice his surroundings, his glare softening a little as he took in the apartment building, the outlying trees and the deep blue sky above. It had been ages since he had been here. Or anywhere, other than that blazing bright Sugar Rush landscape.

Ned patted Turbo's arm lightly and smiled. "Thanks for inviting us, Felix."

"Well, come on up!" Felix said quickly, moving toward the steps. "The party's just started, and there's plenty to eat and drink and..."

Ted took a step forward, but he glanced back at Ned, and then to Turbo, who had returned his attention to Felix with a weary expression. "I...don't know if we'll be able to make it up," Ted said quietly. Turbo glanced at him with a faint glare, but he didn't argue. "I don't think we'll be able to stay long anyway."

Felix perked, looking from Ted back to Turbo and musing quietly, "Oh, I see..." A hopeful smile sprung back onto the handyman's features and he looked up at Ted once more. "Well, how about I have a few drinks brought down here then?"

So it was that the three racers found themselves sitting on the front steps of the Fix-It Felix, Jr. apartment building, sipping at drinks while Felix himself catered to them. At first the twins assured him he didn't need to go to any trouble for them, but the handyman was eager to please and happy to have them, so eventually they relented and let him serve. "Oh, Turbo," he said, having just run off and come back again after fetching a second round of drinks (Turbo had refused to accept a second, his hands shaking a bit much to hold a glass.). Turbo glanced up at Felix, looking haggard, but he perked at the sight of a pie held between the handyman's hands. "We fixed this up for you earlier. Cherry, right? I thought you'd like to have it. Fresh out of the oven."

Turbo swallowed, hesitating before he reached out a trembling hand for the gift. Felix handed it over to him with a smile, gently laying a fork across the top. "I hope you can still enjoy it."

"Oh, he will," Ted said slyly.

Ned tipped his head on its side with a smile, giving Felix the 'thank you' that Turbo hadn't offered.

Turbo shifted a little in his spot between the twins, managing to get the fork in one hand, steady enough to stab it into the crust. With a little maneuvering, he got a lump onto the fork and and carefully directed it to his mouth. This was it, _this _was his favorite, yes. It was almost better than the one the twins had brought him before, if that was possible. He hummed with pleasure, returning the fork to the pie eagerly. Ted chuckled lightly and put his arm around Turbo's shoulders to gave him a light squeeze, but Turbo ignored him entirely. One thing at a time.

Felix sat with them a little while and chatted with the twins. Turbo was unable to participate for the most part, unable to spread his attention much more than he already was doing. Yet sitting on the steps of the apartment, he found a strange distant memory playing itself out in his head: Felix and himself sitting here, one night long long ago, while he was complaining bitterly about something or other the twins had done to annoy him. And Felix had said something...something like..."You should be grateful to have friends like them in your game!" And he'd scoffed, something about 'friendship' being a worthless notion, and gone back to his rant.

Turbo raised another bite of pie to his mouth, chewing it thoughtfully.

Felix had been right, and Turbo had known it even then. And the twins...

He coughed suddenly as a glitch shuddered through him. The twins looked at him quickly. Red pixels slipped in Turbo's avatar and seemed to have trouble forming up again. "That's our cue," Ted said quickly, standing. Felix looked from Turbo to the twins urgently.

"Will he be alright?"

"Oh, yeah," Ted said, leaning down over Turbo. "We just gotta go."

Turbo tried to stand but found the glitching prevented him. His avatar wouldn't move, and the pie plate slipped from his useless hands to the ground. "Okay, Turbo," Ned said lightly, slipping his arms under Turbo's legs and behind his back, lifting him easily. A little glitch gave Ned a spark, but he only shook it off, looking back at Felix. "Thank you again, Felix!"

Felix was looking after them anxiously, nodding a bit, and looking helpless. "Be careful going back!"

Ted saluted and turned to go, walking quickly with Ned at his side, Turbo curled up, glitching and flinching in Ned's arms.

He barely remembered the return journey. He was only halfway conscious and for the most part, the glitching robbed him of his senses. He knew Ned carried him the rest of the way back (he could feel the warmth of the twin's arms around him). He vaguely recalled being in Game Central and thinking a bit bitterly, _I do still care what they think of me; they think I'm pathetic._ Then briefly, _maybe at least they won't think I'm a threat to them anymore._ Then everything seemed to slip away and he knew only darkness and a break from the discomfort of his glitching code.

* * *

Ted and Ned managed to get Turbo back to their room without running into trouble. To their great relief, he didn't change back into the cybug when they returned, but remained silently in Ned's arms, original avatar intact. He had passed out entirely by that point, but seemed otherwise alright, so they loaded him into Ned's kart and the three of them took off for the palace.

They got Turbo back to their room, where one of the usual guards was waiting at the door, yawning sleepily. He let them in without a word and closed the door behind them.

Ted pulled back the cotton candy blankets and Ned lay Turbo gently in the center of their oversized bed. Then Ted nodded toward the door, stepping back. "We've gotta report to Vanellope."

Ned hummed softly, kneeling on the edge of the bed. "We don't have to right now," he whispered.

Ted tilted his head, smirking a bit knowingly. "Come on, it won't take long. He'll be here when we get back."

Ned stuck out his bottom lip a bit in a pout, then pulled his legs up on the bed and lay himself down next to Turbo. Ted shook his head with a smirk, stepping back over to the bed himself. "Come on, Ned, we can do this later."

Ned scooted himself over against Turbo's side, looking up at Ted quietly. "You want to do it too."

Ted still smirked, shaking his head at his brother. "Later."

Ned stuck out his bottom lip again, then he shifted about, leaning over Turbo and carefully pulling the helmet off the other racer's head. He rolled the helmet over the edge of the bed where it clunked and rolled against the floor, then he settled back in, smiling up at Ted. "Now you have to."

Ted laughed softly, glancing aside. He let out a sigh. "Alright, alright...But she's gonna be mad." The racer climbed onto the bed on Turbo's other side and moved into place, lying down so that the twins had sandwiched the smaller racer between them. He gazed silently at Turbo, looking peaceful and rather childish with his scruff of hair hanging over his forehead. "Dammit, Ned...He's cute."

Ned smiled, wrapping an arm around Turbo and snuggling up against him, breathing out contentedly. Ted smiled a little and closed his eyes, stretching himself out before relaxing. He hadn't noticed, but his body had been tense the whole day. Ever since Turbo decided he wanted to try going to Felix's. To be perfectly honest, Ted had been terrified. What if something happened? What if they couldn't get him back in time? The whole day had been nerve-wracking. At least it was over, and it went well...and Turbo was alright.

There was a light knock at the door and Ted opened his eyes, glancing over. "Come in."

The door opened by the guard beyond and Sour Bill shuffled in a few steps before pausing, looking in at them dully. "...I wanted to see that...he was alright."

"He is," Ted said, smiling.

Sour Bill nodded, looking if anything the slightest bit anxious "Good. Well. I'll...be off then."

"Sour Bill," Ted said softly. The green candy ball looked up at him. "Come on over here."

Sour Bill hesitated, then with an eagerness that was unlike him, he clattered to the side of the bed, looking up at the racer with large eyes. Ted smirked and reached down a hand. The Sour Ball rather nervously reached out one of his green jellybean hands in return and Ted gently lifted him onto the bed. With some help from the racer, he soon found himself wedged in between Ted and Turbo, blinking. "There you go," Ted purred, "now this is where you wanted to be anyway, isn't it?"

Sour Bill was clearly uncomfortable, but he perked as Turbo shifted slightly against him and reached out an arm, tugging the little green candy in against him. The royal assistant blinked a bit uncertainly at Ted, then took a soft breath as a glitch ran the length of Turbo's body, flickering him briefly to King Candy's avatar and back. Ted leaned his head on his arm. "I take it this isn't the first time you've done this."

"No sir," Sour Bill said quietly, although it was obviously the first time he had done it with anyone else around.

Ted smiled at the little candy quietly. On Turbo's other side, Ned seemed to have already drifted into sleep, and Turbo was obviously long gone, although somehow it seemed he had garnered some comfort from taking Sour Bill under his arm. Ted let out a breath tiredly and relaxed against the bed. He balled a fist and gently brushed his knuckles against Sour Bill's cheek. The candy looked up at him vaguely.

"Thanks," Ted said softly. "For looking out for him. Even though he lied to you and, to be perfectly honest, you didn't even know who he really was...Thanks. He needed somebody, and you were there for him when nobody else was. I don't know, maybe he just programmed it that way, but..."

"I was always honored to serve him," Sour Bill said, with a voice that suggested he wasn't, yet Ted was getting better at reading that misguiding tone. "I still am...when I'm able."

Ted closed his eyes with a smile, sighing through one last sleepy chuckle.

* * *

When Turbo awoke, he was back in the oversized bed in the twins' room at the palace. Ted was fast asleep in front of him and Ned had an arm wrapped around him from behind. He was also surprised to find that he had Sour Bill tugged up against his chest, the little candy quite contentedly asleep there under his right arm. Lifting his arm carefully from Sour Bill, he shifted around a little, trying to free himself of Ned's embrace and eventually managed to sit up, the twins and Sour Bill unaware of his movements on either side.

He looked down at his hands—still familiar grey skin, thank programmers. He had made it to another game and back, as himself. It was an enormous success, but he was still troubled by how debilitating the glitching made him. He raised a hand to brush at his temples, rubbing the short cropped hair at the sides of his head and frowning. He perked as he felt a hand at his shoulder, turning just in time as Ted tugged him back down with a flop onto the bed. He grimaced, looking at the twin who smiled sleepily over at him.

"Morning, Turbs."

"Morning, Idiot."

"Aww, aren't you in a good mood," Ted murmured with a smile, nuzzling his cheek up against Turbo's shoulder. Turbo frowned but didn't push him away, still feeling rather weak and subdued.

"Where's my helmet?"

"Don't know," Ted purred dismissively, closing his eyes again and settling in. "Doesn't matter."

Turbo scowled up at the ceiling and said nothing, clenching and unclenching his hands slowly. Ned shifted around on his right, still fast asleep and breathing quietly. There were no engines running yet. The room was silent. "How long did I last yesterday?" he asked. "Before I glitched?"

Ted was silent for a moment, breathing in deeply and back out. "Forty-three minutes, I think. New record."

There was a certain vague sense of confidence, of freedom, that came with that thought. It was strange, because he had finally settled into the idea of living in Sugar Rush, of staying here and being content with that. Yet the freedom to come and go, to be a part of this larger community of the arcade (whether they wanted him to be or not) brought its own feelings of significance. If he could just get the hang of this, then...well, then who knows. The gli-Vanellope-would be eager to hear about this. He was partly surprised she hadn't assaulted them first thing when they'd returned. Although, maybe she had. He'd been unconscious after all.

"Turbs," Ted said softly.

Turbo turned toward him with a frown. "Don't call me that. What?"

Ted opened his eyes, stifling a yawn. "Vanellope came in here last night, she woke me up...to see how you did over at Fix-It's." He was unable to stop the yawn and let it out with a wide jaw before settling back in against Turbo's shoulder. "She said...she wants you to race the roster today."

Turbo raised a brow at him. "But I didn't glitch to the cybug this time."

"No, no," Ted said. "She just wants you to be in the races. As King Candy, that is." He stifled another yawn, leaning his head against Turbo's. "The other racers agreed, though I'll bet it took some convincing...but you can be in play for the day. If you want."

Turbo blinked at him slowly, his yellow eyes wide and disbelieving. "Really...?"

"Yup," Ted said, smiling sleepily. "Woulda' woken you up to tell you, but you looked so cute there..."

Turbo blushed, pushing at the other racer. "Alright, alright-enough!" He huffed, letting the idea of being a playable character again settle into his mind. Racing—_really _racing! With a gamer at the controls. Why would Vanellope would do this for him?!

Ah, of course. He did owe her after all. He smirked faintly. Well, admittedly, he had to be impressed by her craftiness. It was about the only thing he'd ever found remotely impressive about her.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice as Ted leaned over to him, planting a light kiss on his cheek before he settled back in close against him. Turbo blushed deeply as he stared at the ceiling above, listening to Ted's stifled chuckles at his side. After a moment, the other racer cleared his throat and settled down and the two of them lapsed back into comfortable silence, both considering the future that now lay before them.

"So you're gonna race again," Ted murmured finally. "Like the old days."

"I guess so." Turbo continued to stare at the ceiling, trying to brush away the feeling of disbelief that still lingered in his thoughts.

"And you're...still Turbotastic?"

Turbo glanced over at Ted slowly. The other racer was smirking expectantly, extending one hand just over Turbo's chest. Turbo stared at that hand, silent, considering that thought-_still Turbotastic-_until Ted cleared his throat again and gave him a little encouraging nod. Startled from his thoughts, Turbo swallowed and drew in a deep breath, nodding as he grabbed the offered hand tightly in his own.

"I've always been Turbotastic."


End file.
